girls of destiny
by soraxkairifangirl
Summary: Sora has a dream that leads him to protect a girl who will decide the fate of the worlds. As the adventure unfolds,will he be able to poor his heart out to Kairi? Does she love him back? R&R. Sokai, OCxOC. Current world: El Dorado
1. Chapter 1

**An: It's back! This is the previous story I deleted. I was gonna give up on it, until sorakairi forever cheered me on and told me to write it again! This chapter is dedicated to you, thanks for believing in me. On with the show!**

_Sora opened his blue eyes into the pitch black darkness surrounding him. He could instantly tell that something was very wrong. This wasn't the kind of average darkness he was used to. This kind had a more ominous yet comforting aura around it. And when he looked up, a bright light shot down like an angel light raining from the heavens._

_He was dreaming again._

_He stepped into the welcoming light, and a familiar voice spoke. "Young Keybearer, I bring you here to share you important news." The voice said. "What is it this time?" Sora asked. He had heard this voice speak to him in his first adventure, and he still didn't know who the owner of it was or why it would always call on HIM. _

_The voice continued. "Be cautious, because this new information may control the Destiny that has been set upon you." It warned. "Why? What is it?" The Keyblade Master goaded it on. The next words sounded like it was being voiced by hundreds of people. _

"_You will protect a girl who is to decide the fate of the worlds." It said. Sora got a confused look on his face. "What? What's that supposed to mean?" He asked hopelessly. _

"_You will protect a girl who is to decide the fate of the worlds." The voice repeated. "Hold on, you're not making sense! What girl? Tell me more!" Sora demanded. The voice didn't seem to listen. "Protect her…protect her…" The voice grew more and more distant as the darkness started to fade back into light._

"_No! Wait! I need to know more-!"_

**XXX**

"Don't go! Wait!" Sora bolted up from his bed, taking in a breath of air. He wiped his forehead, which was covered in sweat.

"Again? What's going on here?" Sora wondered out loud. This wasn't the first time he had had the dream. Ever since he got back from defeating Xemnas and saving the worlds(3 months ago), he had the dream at least once a week. Each time he had it, his curiosity for what it meant just grew.

His thoughts were interrupted from a bang against his window. He opened it up and looked down to see one of his best friends, Kairi. "Hey, Sora! We're going to the islands! Are you coming, or are you going to sleep in like the lazy bum you are?" She joked. Sora grinned. "I'll be right down!" He shouted back.

_I'll worry about that dream later._ Sora thought as he put his KH2 black drive clothes on. He bolted out the door and smiled at the red head. "Riku's waiting for us at the docks. Let's go now." Kairi pointed to the north side, where the Islands were.

Sora sighed as Kairi ran ahead of him. _Even when we're alone, I'm too chicken to admit my true feelings._ He stared at the back of Kairi longingly. _I have to tell her sometime, or I'll lose her for sure._ He sighed and ran after her.

Riku was at dock, waiting for Sora and Kairi. When he saw them, he smirked. "Took you long enough, Sora. Kairi and I bet 10 munny that you were gonna sleep in." He chuckled. Kairi smiled. "By the way, you owe me 10 munny." She said. Riku sighed and gave it to her. Sora grinned at the two.

_It makes me feel lucky to have friends like those two._ He thought.

"Come on! We've got an island to go to!" Riku shouted, throwing Sora and Kairi some oars. The two climbed into their own boats and headed off to their childhood playground.

**An: What do you think? Good? Bad? Neutral? You be the judge of that. R&R everyone, and once again, thank you, sorakairi forever.**


	2. The girls

"Up and at 'em, girls! It's morning!" A girl shouted. "Okay, Mollie. Just quiet down. You'll wake up the whole neighborhood with your booming voice." Another girl complained to the girl named Mollie. Mollie had short brown hair, a white t-shirt, short Capri pants, brown eyes, and blue sandals. "Hey, my voice isn't that loud, Emilie." Mollie pointed out.

Emilie had shoulder length dirty blonde hair, hazel eyes, a yellow tank top, jeans, and small white shoes. Emilie rolled her eyes and turned around to wake up another girl. "Bonnie, it's time to get up." Said girl opened her eyes.

Bonnie had long brunette hair, brown eyes, pink jacket over a purple tank top, jeans, pink sandals, and was the tallest of the three. She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Okay, I'm getting up."

When the girls sat down, Mollie asked a question she asked to Emilie everyday. "Do you remember anything, yet?" She asked. Emilie's face lit up. "No, but I had a dream that could solve the answer to my memories." She said. She started explaining the dream.

_Emilie stood in the middle of a familiar crossroad. All was quiet, until a gentle voice spoke. "You desire your memories. To get them, you must first make a choice: Which road will you take?" Emilie first looked at the road on the left._

"_This is the road to darkness. Take it, and your memories will come flooding back to you; but there is a price. You will lose your friends in the process." Emilie's eyes widened. Getting her memories back is something she has wanted for a long time. But losing her friends? Mollie was the one who found her, unconscious and amnesiac in Twilight town at age 6. 2 years later they found Bonnie, who took them in and took care of them both. Why would she want to lose the only people who care for her? She shook her head and turned to the right road._

"_This is the road to light. Take it, and begin your first step into a long journey that, though it is longer and harder then dark, will keep you with your friends." The voice explained. Emilie nodded and stepped onto the road. _

"_You have chosen the road to light. Here is whom you must seek." An image appeared in front of her. The image was a boy with brunette spiky hair, warm blue eyes, and black drive clothes. "Sora, the Keyblade Master. He is the Key to your memories, the Key to the Door to Light. Seek him, and he will lead you to your past. Good luck, Emilie."_

"Let me get this straight, we have to find this Sora kid so we can get your memories back?" Mollie repeated. Emilie nodded. "That's what it told me."

Bonnie lifted her head up to the sky. "But where is this Sora? He's not in Twilight town; Hayner, Pence, and Olette said that he's from another world." She said.

Mollie looked thoughtful for a second, before grabbing some kind of newspaper and reading it aloud. " '**Radiant Garden Grand reopening of the Castle. All Restoration Committee members invited! Members: Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Sora-**' That's it guys! Sora will be in Radiant Garden! That's the world we have to go to!" Mollie declared.

Emilie shot up. "Well then, come on, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" The three ran to the sand lot to see some kind of Gummi ship. It was blue with red letters on it that said _adventure trip. _Mollie got into the driver seat, Emilie took hold of the laser machine, and Bonnie took hold of the aiming button. Emilie fired up the engines.

"To Radiant Garden!" She cheered as they lifted up into the starry sky. Bonnie took a look around and whispered to Emilie. "Isn't this great? We'll finally discover the secrets to your past."

"Yeah, I can't wait. Now then, let's find Sora" The Gummi ship flew closer and closer to their assigned world.

_Emilie_

A bright and beautiful girl who is currently finding Sora. Mollie found her in Twilight Town at age 6, amnesiac. Later the two encountered Bonnie, who has been taking care of them. Now at age 15, Emilie is smart, a great fighter, and often tries to shut Mollie up when she's too loud or enthusiastic.

_Mollie_

A friend of Emilie. It was Mollie who found Emilie unconscious and amnesiac in Twilight Town. She has been sticking with her ever since. Now at age 15, Mollie is enthusiastic, optimistic, and has a cheerful personality that is incredibly contagious. She often speaks her mind to make people laugh.

_Bonnie_

Another friend of Emilie and Mollie. Bonnie took care of Mollie and Emilie with surprisingly adult like skills, despite she was 8 when she found them. Now at age 15, Bonnie is quiet, shy, curious, and also doesn't remember her past, though she ignores that and instead focuses on Emilie, who for some reason, bares a striking resemblance to her.


	3. The island

**An: Hi there! I got five lovely reviews! Thank you, guys. Be sure to review for this chapter too. On with the show!**

Sora stared at into the beautiful ocean expanse from the island he was on. It was currently sunset. The sun almost looked like it was drowning in the ocean waves. The evening sky reflected against the ocean, turning it blood red. Sora breathed in the salty air.

_Before we left for going to other worlds, I never really appreciated this view. I never thought I would miss this...amazing sight. _Sora got up from sitting in the soft sand and looked at his reflection in the water. As he gazed closer, he noticed that the reflection was changing… Until it actually talked to him.

_Hey Sora!_ Sora gave a yelp of surprise and fell in the sand. "Oh, Roxas it's you." Hey clutched his hammering heart. Roxas put a hand behind his spiky blonde hair. _Sorry for scaring you like that._ He apologized.

"It's no big deal. What are you doing?" Sora asked. _I just wanna talk. When are you gonna tell Kairi that you love her?_ He asked. Sora looked at him, shocked. "What? I don't _love _her!" He tried to convince his nobody.

Roxas smirked. _Come on, Sora. I'm you, remember? I can tell what emotions you're experiencing when you see, talk to, or talk about Kairi. Are you sure you're not too embarrassed to admit it? _He asked.

Sora opened his mouth to object again, but then he closed it like a fish. Roxas smirked at his speechless other. _Well, if I'm right then why don't go up to Kairi and say "Kairi, I-,"_

"Sora?" Sora nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Kairi's voice. He looked at Roxas and splashed it, causing it to disappear. Kairi sat down next to Sora. "Who were you talking to?" She asked.

"Um, no one. I just like to talk to myself sometimes." He lied. Kairi giggled. "I see." She looked across the ocean expanse. "Sometimes, I wonder what would've happened if we didn't go to other worlds." She thought out loud.

Sora thought for a second. "Well, the positive thing about it would be Riku wouldn't have given in to the darkness." He then looked sad as he said, "But then I wouldn't have met Donald, Goofy, Leon, Yuffie, or any of the friends I made." Kairi looked at Sora. "I wouldn't have gotten to see how much you would give up just to save me." She said.

Sora looked at her. "Yeah, but, Riku did the same thing." He said, modestly. Kairi sighed. "Yes, but he didn't turn into a Heartless to save me." She explained.

Sora winced at the memory. Turning into a Heartless was the scariest thing that ever happened to him. It was pitch black, not a single light in sight. His friends were gone, his heart was nearly consumed by darkness. But then, he remembered, he didn't completely lose his memories like regular heartless. The only thing that kept his memories in place and his heart strong was Kairi herself. She was the reason he didn't want to attack his friends. She was the happy thought that let him fly. She was the one he would die for. She was his light within his darkness.

Kairi turned to the ocean again. "I don't know what I would have done without you, Sora. I still feel bad that I couldn't do anything to help you while you were gone." Sora turned to Kairi with an astonished look on his face.

"That's not true! You were the one who brought me back into the light! If it weren't for you, I would still be a Heartless today. I can't imagine…life without you." His face was as red as Kairi's hair when the words escaped his lips. Kairi turned to him, her blue eyes sparkling. "Thank you… And I have something to tell you." She said, getting closer to him.

"I do too, but you go first." Sora suggested, getting closer to her too. "The truth is, ever since I became friends with you, I really-,"

Sora saw something coming down from the corner of his eye. "Hold on a second." He said to Kairi, running near the object. Kairi sighed. _I was so close…_

The object up close turned out to be a familiar Gummi ship. Sora narrowed his eyes to identify the two figures coming out.

"Hey Sora!" The first figure shouted in a comical and nasally voice.

"Howdy Sora!" The second figure said in a goofy voice. A huge grin came onto Sora's face as he recognized the two's voices(especially the nasally one).

"Donald! Goofy!" He shouted with glee. The court mage and knight leaped onto Sora, and gave him a warm hug. Sora was laughing as he saw his two friends again. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked.

Donald was the one who answered. "We came to invite you to a special Radiant Garden event." He explained. Goofy got out three invitations. "A-hyuck! That's right! One for you, one for Riku, and one for Kairi." He said. Sora read the invitations.

"You are invited to celebrate the grand reopening of Radiant Garden's castle." Sora looked up excitedly. "Leon and the gang are finally gonna open it! I knew they could do it!" He cheered. Kairi and Riku apparently heard Sora cheer, as they came running over.

"What is it, Sora?" Riku asked. "Look at this!" Sora gave Riku and Kairi the invitations. As soon as they finished reading, they looked up with excited looks on their faces(even Riku).

"Wow, they actually did it?" Riku asked in disbelief. "That's right. What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sora declared, pointing at the Gummi ship. They all gave out a cheer and entered the ship, scheduled to go to Radiant Garden.

Little did Sora know that this will be his greatest adventure yet.


	4. Radiant Garden

The Gummi ship _adventure trip_ landed in the middle of the market shops. Normally the markets would be bustling with people buying potions and elixirs for healing their injuries that they got from Heartless; but not today.

All of the shops were empty and closed. No one was their. It almost made it look like the ghost town it once was. Emilie caught sight of a sign near Mr. Scrooge's ice cream shop. "_Closed for Castle reopening._" Emilie read aloud.

"Well, at least we know where Sora _won't _be now." Mollie pointed out. "Well, I have a feeling everyone will be at the bailey to celebrate it." Bonnie guessed.

"What makes you say that?" Emilie asked. "Because the newspaper says everyone will be at the bailey to celebrate it." Bonnie pointed at the newspaper she was holding up.

"Oh… Well then, let's go to the bailey!" Mollie declared, turning toward the bailey.

The girls headed off to the bailey to(maybe) get Emilie's memory back.

**XXX**

Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, and Goofy arrived in Radiant Garden only minutes before the girls. He knocked on the door of Merlin the Wizard's house, and out came the great, tough, and overenthusiastic ninja Yuffie. She hugged Sora.

"Sora, you're here! I'm so glad you came!" She stared at Riku. "So you're Riku? How are you feeling now that you're free from Xehanort's Heartless?" Riku visibly clenched his fists at the name Xehanort. Yuffie noticed it. "Okay, forget that I said that."

She turned to Kairi. "Oh, Kairi! You've really grown since I last saw you. Sora wouldn't stop talking about you since he became a member!" She complained. Kairi turned to Sora. "He did?" She asked, a grin budding on her face.

"Are you kidding? He rambled on for three hours about your _hair_!" She explained. Sora tried to hide his deep red blush. "And don't get me started on how he described your eyes. He-," Sora elbowed her stomach. Yuffie got the message. "Never mind. Come in! Come and see the restoration committee again!" She beckoned them in.

The whole restoration committee turned to them. "Hey, kid!" Cid greeted.

"Hey." Leon greeted, not moving.

"Hello, again." Aerith said.

"So nice to see you again, my boy." Merlin greeted.

"Where are we going to celebrate the castle reopening?" Riku asked.

"Well, we figured that the best place would be the bailey. We destroyed that wall that has the windows that show the castle from far away. We replaced it with a bridge leads it all the way their! Now people just have to walk their from the bailey!" Merlin explained.

"Yeah, an' the King himself will be there." Cid finished.

"The King!?" Sora, Riku, and Kairi exclaimed simultaneously.

"That's right. He'll be cutting the ribbon that blocks the bridge." Aerith explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sora started running off toward the bailey, with the others in hot pursuit.

**An: Sorry this chapter couldn't be longer. I've been busy today. *Cough*Swimming*Cough* Anyway, the chapter will be longer tomorrow. Review please.**


	5. Attack

Soon enough, the girls made it to the bailey and were met with all of the citizens of Radiant Garden. Right where the windows were was a red ribbon. And beyond that was the bridge that led to the new and improved Castle. Next to that ribbon was the King himself.

"_That's _the King?!" Mollie exclaimed. "He's a mouse!"

"Well, the newspaper did say that this King was from another world." Bonnie explained. "And just because he's a mouse doesn't mean he isn't a great King. I hear he is one of the most powerful and wisest Keyblade Masters. He helped Sora seal the Door to Darkness, and he helped another boy, who had before given into darkness, see the light." She finished.

"He sounds important. No wonder he's going to do this." Emilie thought out loud.

A few minutes later, the restoration committee appeared, along with Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku and Kairi. Emilie's eyes widened as soon as she caught sight of Sora. "Girls, it's him!" She pointed to Sora.

"Alright, let's go talk to him!" Mollie looked ready to run to Sora. Emilie grabbed her shirt and pulled her back. "Are you crazy?! Why would we wanna interrupt an important celebration just so Sora could speak to girls he has _never _met?!" Emilie asked.

Mollie looked thoughtful. Now that she thought about it, maybe it _would _be a little awkward. In the end, she stayed completely quiet; a rare thing you find in her.

After the crowd got quiet, King Mickey finally spoke. "This will be a very memorable day for Radiant Garden. None of this would have been possible without the Restoration Committee, and of course Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku." Mickey gestured to said heroes.

"Now, I shall cut this rib-," He paused for a second. There was an unfamiliar presence in the crowd. Something…dark.

"Mickey? Are you okay?" Riku asked him.

Mickey wasn't listening. He was eyeing the presence that had darkness around it. It was a man with black hair that was shading his eyes, a black long sleeved shirt, and blue jeans. He was silently moving his hands as if signaling something. Mickey instantly knew what it was.

"Watch out!" He was too late. The dark man summoned dark creatures that did not appear in Radiant Garden, or any other world, in a long time.

Heartless.

The citizens screamed in fear and started running away from the Heartless. Unlucky ones got their hearts stolen and joined them with the darkness. Mickey had a look of pure determination on his face and summoned his Keyblade _Darkside_.

"We have to protect the citizens!" Mickey ordered the others. Sora summoned his _Kingdom Key_, Riku summoned his _Way to Dawn_, and Kairi summoned her brand new Keyblade _Paopu Bond_. Donald and Goofy got out their weapons as well. "Let's go!" Sora cried as they charged into battle.

Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie were the only ones in the crowd who weren't moving. "Should we help?" Mollie asked. "Why not? We can fight them." Bonnie said. The three suddenly summoned Keyblades of their own.

Mollie's was pink with a yellow handle and a smiley face Keychain. It was called _Joyride._ Bonnie's was blue with a purple handle and a snowflake keychain. It was called _Icy Calm_.

Emilie's was the most unique. The blade itself was a mixture of red and orange and the handle was matched the color of the sky when the sun sets. The Keychain was the bright red sun that showed during Twilight. It was called _Twilight Hill_.

Sora took notice of the three. "Keyblades?! They're Keybearers?!" He exclaimed. His surprise was short lived, as a soldier heartless would have struck him in the back if Kairi wasn't there first. With impressive speed, she zipped to the soldier and struck it in the back. The heartless disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

"Thanks Kairi. Without you I'd be toast!" Sora thanked her. Kairi smiled. "No problem. Just watch your back next time." She said seriously. The two continued attacking the Heartless back to back, warning each other of incoming Heartless from time to time.

Mollie narrowly dodged a slash from a neoshadow Heartless. "Hey Emilie, I could use some help here!" Mollie gestured to herself. "Alright, let's do this!" Emilie shouted. Mollie tossed Emilie in the air and from up there, she started firing multiple blasts of fire at the heartless, getting rid of them in seconds.

Rather moving while attacking the Heartless, Bonnie was staying still and firing ice at the Heartless, freezing them in place. She didn't move the whole time.

The dark man was losing patience. _These guys are better than I thought._ He thought. Than he snapped his fingers, and another Heartless appeared out of the ground. But this one was bigger and far more creepier than the Heartless they just fought. It was something Sora thought and hoped he would never see again.

Darkside.

Terrible dark memories buzzed through Sora's head. This Heartless had appeared in his dream and on the islands while they were being destroyed. Just thinking about this Heartless sent chills through him.

_How do you defeat him again?_ Darkside slammed his hand down into the ground, leading up to… _Oh yeah! The head! _

Sora ran up his harm and started hitting the head as many times as he could. The Heartless roared in pain and flicked him off like a fly. Sora was sent crashing head first into a wall.

A dazed Sora shook the cobwebs out of his head. "Hey, Sora!" An unfamiliar voice called to him. Sora looked straight ahead and saw Emilie throwing her Keyblade to him. Sora quickly caught it. "Aim the Keyblades at the Heartless' head and say 'light'! She ordered.

Sora wasn't so sure whether he should listen to her, he's never even met her… But the fact that Darkside was going to kill them if he doesn't do anything was enough to convince him to obey her. "Light!"

A bright flash of light erupted from the Keyblades and shot at the Darkside's head. With one last scream of pain, it disappeared in a wave of darkness.

Emilie's Keyblade disappeared from Sora's hand and reappeared in Emilie's. Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey were at Sora's side the instant it was gone. "Is everyone alright?" Mickey checked.

"I'm fine, thanks to her." Sora pointed at Emilie. Mickey looked at the three curiously. "Who are you three?" He asked.

"Emilie."

"Mollie."

"Bonnie."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sora. These are Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey." Sora introduced. King Mickey looked back at the girls. "So you're Keybearers? What are you guys doing here?" He asked.

"Curses!" A voice suddenly spoke. Everyone turned to see the same dark man from earlier. This time though they could see his eyes, which were black(big surprise).

"Looks like Darkside wasn't enough." He said. "Who are you? Why are summoning the Heartless?!" Sora demanded.

"My name is Aaron. And the only reason I'm doing this is so that girl can be destroyed!" He pointed at someone nobody would expect. Emilie!

"What?! Why?!" Mickey asked.

"She has a special power within her. I'm surprised you haven't figured that out, 'Your Majesty'." He spat the last words out like poison.

Mickey turned to Emilie. Now that he identified her, he did sense something…weird about her.

"I may have failed this time, but I will destroy you, yet!" Aaron declared, and disappeared in a flash of darkness. Everyone was left staring wide eyed at the place he just stood; especially Emilie.

"Your Majesty, do you know what's going on?" Kairi asked. "I do. Let's go back to Merlin's house and I'll explain everything."


	6. Crystal Stars?

Back at Merlin's house, King Mickey was observing Emilie from head to toe, thoughtfully. Emilie looked a little nervous since she wasn't used to having a mouse study her. Sora and co. waited for King Mickey to say something, impatiently.

"Alright, I found out." Mickey said after what seemed like hours of waiting. "What is it? What does this Aaron want with Emilie?" Mollie asked. Mickey cleared his throat. "Well, I identified her power as something called Twilight Princess." He explained.

"Twilight Princess? What's that?" Riku asked. "It's, of course, a Princess of Twilight. It is said that the Twilight Princess guards the realm of light and darkness from any unwanted intruder. Were Emilie not amnesiac, she would be doing it right now. But she has lost her memory, so she doesn't know about that, nor does she have the power to do it. This Aaron man must want to destroy Emilie before she remembers how to use it, and take over the realm of light and darkness when she's gone." He guessed.

"Gawrsh, then that must mean that we have to get Emilie's memory back before Aaron can destroy her and take over the realms." Goofy thought it over. "Yup!" King Mickey approved.

"Wait a second, I had a dream that said that I should guard a girl who will decide the fate of the worlds. Did the dream mean you?" Sora asked Emilie. "Seriously? I had a dream that told me that in order to get my memory back, I have to find you!" Emilie exclaimed.

"Then I guess that whoever sent you the dream wants you to help her, Sora." Mickey guessed. "In order for Emilie to destroy Aaron, she needs to have these things called 'Crystal Stars(best I could come up with)'." He explained. "They're scattered across other worlds, so it may take a while; but I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get it before Aaron does anything sneaky."

"We have to go on _another _adventure?" Donald complained. "Well, I'm okay with it." Sora said. Everyone stared at him. "You are?" Kairi asked. "Life on the islands was getting boring again anyway." He shrugged. "I'd love to go travel again. And as long as I have Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Kairi with me, I know I'll be fine." He said optimistically.

Kairi looked at him in slight surprise. "I can come with you?" She asked. "Well, I won't let you get out of my sight this time, and I noticed that you've gotten a lot better with using the Keyblade." Sora winked. Kairi could only smile.

"Great! Emilie, Bonnie, a whole bunch of new friends and I going on a whole new adventure!" Mollie cheered.

"I'm going to stay here and try to research more about Aaron. You guys can go find the Crystal Stars." Mickey said.

"Well, guys, let's go!" Sora pointed the way to his Gummi ship.

Riku looked at the radar. "According to the radar, the closest world would be… Frigid grounds." He said.

Kairi sat next to Sora. "I can't believe I get to travel the worlds with you." She shook her head in disbelief. Sora grinned. "I'm glad you came. And you'll be great when it comes to fighting. That's a promise." He promised.

Emilie was still shocked at what she discovered. Donald was staring at her for some reason. "What?" Emilie asked. "Nothing. I just can't believe we're doing this just so a girl could get her memory back." He sighed, exasperated. Emilie guessed she would have to control her temper around this duck.

Bonnie and Mollie sat next to her. "You know, something tells me this journey will take a while." Mollie guessed. "As long as we get Emilie's memory back, it doesn't matter." Bonnie said, calmly.

Emilie sighed. This was the beginning of another epic adventure.

**An: I got the Crystal Star from Paper Mario, not the best I could think of. Anyway, the first world is from one of my sister's favorite movies. Review please.**


	7. The first world

In a flash of light, Sora and co. landed in their first world. Sora opened his eyes and was quite surprised at what he saw.

They had all been changed into animals again. Sora was a small mammoth, or at least smaller than a full grown mammoth. He had his tan brunnete fur like his hair, and on top of his head he still had his spiky hair, with his crown necklace around his large neck, and his blue eyes. He stared at his trunk. "I could get used to this."

Kairi was also a mammoth. Though she was smaller than Sora. Her fur was a bit darker, almost red. Her tusks were surprisingly pink, and on her head was wear the red fur was darkest, showing where her hair is supposed to be. "Wow…So this is what it feels like to be an animal."

Riku was also a mammoth with incredibly dark fur. It almost looked back. His tusks were the brightest silver, and his trunk was the longest. He nonchalantly looked at his tusks. "I wonder if these are sharper than my Keyblade."

Emilie looked at herself and shrieked in surprise at what she saw. She was on all fours, and her fur was pitch black. She had a long tail, and cat like reflexes. But this was because, she was a jaguar! "I'm a cat! I can finally kill all the mice I have in my house without them even knowing!" She smirked.

"Whoa, this is incredible!" Mollie shouted. They all turned to her to see that she had changed into a small weasel with a white spot in the middle of her small body and a dark brown tail. Strangely, she still had her short hair on her head. "I've turned into some kind of mouse! I am loving going to other worlds. We should've done this a long time ago!"

"Well, I'd rather be human right now." Bonnie said. Mollie looked down and noticed that Bonnie had turned into a small white rabbit with blue eyes and a brown diamond shaped patch of brown fur on the right of her white fur. "How can I fight when I'm so small? I can't even hold my Keyblade with my _mouth_." She complained.

"At least your pelt is _smooth._" Donald complained. Emilie sat down…Only to come up again with a screech of pain. She looked down and saw that she was sitting on an angry looking porcupine… Which had a familiar blue hat. "Donald?" Emilie asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I look ridiculous." Donald groaned. Goofy came next to Donald. He was now a turtle, it looked somewhat like how he was in the Pride lands; but this time his shell was red and he was much bigger than Donald. "Aw, I think you look good, Donald." Goofy smiled. Donald suddenly shivered. "It's freezing here! Why did we have to land here?" He asked. Sora turned to him. "This is the closest world with the Crystal Star, Donald." He explained. "Why couldn't we go to a world where it was summer, or at least where I'm still a duck?" He complained.

Sora looked around. "Okay guys, we'll worry about the weather and how we look later. Right now we have to find the Crystal Star." He started walking in some random direction with the others following him.

After what seemed like hours of walking, Bonnie finally asked a question everyone was thinking. "Are we lost?" She asked. Donald rolled his eyes. "Of course we're lost. All because once again Sora had to land us in a completely different world with no one to help us or-," "Hey, look!" Mollie pointed to river, with two figures near it.

"Yeah, maybe they can tell us if they saw a Crystal Star." Kairi guessed. Riku noticed something. "They're just standing there, staring at something." He said. Sora noticed it too. "You're right. Let's go check it out." He started running(though he was much slower because of extra weight) to the two figures.

Emilie looked at Donald and Goofy. "Does he do this often?" Donald sighed. "You have no idea." He grumbled.

Sora walked up to the two. One of them was a mammoth like him, but much bigger. The other one was a somewhat green sloth. "Um…Hi there. I'm Sora, who are you?" He asked. Strangely the two didn't respond. "Are you okay?" Still no answer. "What are you-?" Sora turned around and found himself staring too.

Goofy was busy talking to the others. "Well, normally if we get into trouble, we often find something in the end. Which means if we-_oof!_" Goofy ran into Sora, who was as still as a statue. "Sora?" Kairi asked. "Sora?" She repeated. Everyone turned around and saw what got him surprised.

In front of them was a river, and a woman was in it. She was clutching something, like it was a treasure. She weakly put the item on the ground. One of the strangers next to Sora and co. grabbed it with his trunk and pulled it toward him. Everyone looked at it to see that it was an adorable baby wrapped in a blanket. It opened its eyes and cooed when it saw everyone. The sloth went near it. "He's okay!" He said.

Than Kairi looked up and her smile turned into a surprised frown. "She's gone…" Everyone else looked around and realized that she was right. The sloth suddenly noticed Sora and co. "Oh, hello there! My name is Sid, and this is Manny." He introduced. The mammoth looked at everyone. "Oh, great; more _friends_." He said in a flat and grouchy voice. He started to leave.

"Hey, wait. Aren't you gonna help him?" Sora asked. "No." He responded, flatly. "But you just saved him!" Sid pointed out. "Yeah. And I'm still trying to get rid of the last thing I saved." He said, looking at Sid. "But you can't leave him here! He'll die!" Kairi protested. She picked up the small baby with her trunk, smiling at it warmly. Bonnie noticed something near the hill where the waterfall was.

"Hey, look. There's smoke; that's probably where this baby lives with his family." She guessed. "Well then, we should return him." Riku said. Manny turned back to him with a scowl on his face. "There's no _we._ It's bad enough I had to go with this stink drool face, but now I would have to go with a bunch of weirdoes who appeared out of nowhere! In fact, without me there wouldn't even be a _you_!" He pointed at Sid on that last part.

"But it's just up the hill…" Mollie said quietly. "Listen carefully," Manny used the top of his trunk like it was a mouth. "_I'm not going._" He said seriously. Sid glared at him. "Fine, then I'll take him back." He grabbed the baby from Kairi's trunk and began to walk toward the waterfall. "Um…You sure you don't need any help?" Sora asked the stubborn sloth.

"I can do it." Sid assured them. He started talking to the baby. "We don't need that meanie mammoth! No we don't. No we-," He stopped in mid sentence when he saw the cliff he had to climb, which was right next to the waterfall.

Sora stared at him with a look of doubt. He whispered to Donald and Mollie, "Maybe we should help him." He said. "Sh! I've never seen a sloth climb a cliff. This will be good!" Donald smirked. "We should have brought popcorn!" Mollie mumbled.

Sid gulped. This should take a while…

**An: I think I could have done better with this. But like a movie, as the story progresses, it gets better! Review please.**


	8. the baby

Sid started jumping feebly in an attempt to grab something. Finally he stuck his claws in a rock while his feet were looking for something to stand on. When he found it, he tried placing his claws in the next rock…only to fail and use his head to stop himself from falling. Sora and co. were watching with slight amusement. "You give nature a bad name, you know that?" Manny asked.

"This is cake! I'm fine!" Sid assured him. But then he said under his breath "I'm gonna die…" While Sid said this, the blanket the baby was in started to undo itself. The baby fell out of it, but luckily Sid was able to catch it at the last second with his foot. Sora and Manny's heart started pounding in fear.

"Manny! Sora!" Sid pleaded for help. Finally his foot couldn't hold the tyke any longer and he dropped him. Manny lifted his trunk to catch it, when suddenly out of no where an orange tiger with long teeth coming out of his mouth caught it. While the tiger was distracted, Riku knocked the baby out of its grasp and caught it.

The tiger growled menacingly while the others got into a fighting stance. Realizing that he couldn't win a fight against all of them, the tiger turned his fighting stance into a friendly pose. "That pink thing belongs to me." He pointed at the baby, who was wearing a brown shirt and pants with short black hair.

"Actually that belongs to us." Sid said. He lost his grip on the rocks and fell off comically. " 'Us?'" The tiger repeated. "You guys are an odd team." He looked at Sora and co.

"There is no 'us!'" Manny hissed. "Sorry to interrupt your snack, but we gotta go." Sora said, taking the baby(who Riku put on the ground) away. "The baby? Please. I was returning it to its herd." The tiger explained.

Emilie's eyes narrowed with suspicion while Mollie just burst out "Yeah, nice try, bucktooth!" Diego approached the girl-turned-weasel dangerously. "You calling me a liar?" He demanded. "I didn't say that." Mollie said, trying to hide her fear. "But you were _thinking _it."

Mollie whispered to Bonnie nervously "_I don't like this cat; he reads minds._" The tiger turned to the rest. "My name's Diego, friends." Diego introduced. "What are your names?"

"I'm Sora. This is Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, Mollie, Bonnie, and Emilie." He pointed to said people. "Manfred, and you're not my friend." Manny said, bitterly. "Fine, _Manfred._" Diego said, mockingly. "If you guys are looking for the humans, you're all wasting your time. They left this morning." He explained.

"Thanks for the advice. Now leave." Bonnie ordered. Manny turned to the others. "Alright, I'll help you guys bring it to its herd. But after that will you leave me alone?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

"Alright! What's your problem?" Sora asked. "Right now, you are." Manny answered. Sora scowled at him.

Diego growled at his failed attempt to get the baby. Then he looked at Sora. He scented something strange about him. His scent was not from this world. Then he noticed that Sora summoned a strange weapon. His eyes widened when he realized who what scent it was.

The Keybearer.

He remembered what a witch told him after he was sent to get the baby. _If a Keybearer comes to this world, destroy him._ Closing his eyes, he began to think of a plan to get rid of the Keybearers.

**XXX**

"Just throw him on the ledge." Bonnie said. The baby was thrown onto the ledge of the hill. "Maybe somebody should make sure they found him." Sid said, worriedly. "Great idea." Manny picked up Sid, who was protesting a lot, onto the ledge as well. "Don't kill me!" He begged, thinking that the humans could see him. He opened his eyes and realized something. "Oh, this could be a problem…"

"What is it?" Emilie asked as they got up. Everyone groaned in disbelief when they saw that the humans were gone. "Oh, that's just great." Riku said, sarcasm ringing in his voice.

The baby was trying to pick a necklace that was hanging from a clothes line, but instead fell forward into a basket. Sid smiled pretended to do limbo underneath it. While his head was turned, he stepped on a rake and it slammed directly in his face.

Sora looked around the camp curiously. He guessed that the baby's family were Indians judging by all the tents made from fur and the clothes that were set. He found the baby hugging what seemed to be his bed. Sora's eyes glowed with amusement when the baby fell backward into the basket again. His amusement turned to anger when he saw Diego again.

"I told you they were gone." Diego said, flatly. "Oh look who it," Emilie glared at the tiger. "Don't you have some poor, defenseless animal to disembowel?"

Goofy was looking around. "They probably went that way… Or that way…" She guessed, clueless. "You don't know much about tracking." Bonnie pointed out. Goofy laughed sheepishly. "Well I do." Diego looked at a stick. "It's still green, they headed north two hours ago." He explained.

Mollie grabbed two sticks and put them in her mouth, using them to look like Diego's teeth. "_It's still green, they headed north two hours ago._" She mocked. Everyone snickered.

The baby giggled and fell on a stick that a fish on the opposite end. The fish flew up and landed on Manny's face. Sora stifled laughter. "You don't need this aggravation." Diego gestured to fish, that just slid off Manny's face.

"Give me the baby," He dragged it toward him. "I can track the humans down a lot faster than any of you can; even the jaguar." He pointed at Emilie on the last part. Kairi dragged the baby toward herself. "And you're just a good guy helping out, right?" She asked, suspicion hanging on her every word. Diego dragged the baby back to himself. "I just know where the humans will go." Manny looked at a large mountain that looked far away. "The glacier pass; everyone knows it has a settlement on the other side."

Manny took the baby back. "Well, unless you know how to track, you're gonna reach that before the pass closes up with snow. Which should be like, tomorrow." As he said this, the first flakes of snow started to fall. "So, you can give that baby to me, or get lost in a blizzard. It's your choice." He said to Manny, who was trying to decide. At last he picked the baby up, and looked like he was gonna give it to Diego. Sora whispered to Manny, "Manny, you're not really gonna-," He stopped in mid sentence when he saw that he gave the baby to Sid.

"There's you're little bundle of joy, we're returning it to the humans." Sid smiled in triumph at Diego. "Aw, the wittle tigy-wigy gets left behind. Poor tigy-wigy." He said with fake sympathy. But what Manny said next shocked everyone.

"Sid, 'tigy-wigy's gonna lead the way." He explained. Sid's smile turned into a scared frown. "Uh, Manny, can I talk to you?" He asked.

"No. The sooner we get to the humans, the sooner I can get rid of Mr. stinky drool face; and the baby, too." Sora looked at him in disbelief. "But we can't trust him with the baby!" He protested. Manny turned to Sora with a sharp glare.

"Look, kid, I don't know where you came from, but as long as I can get rid of you guys, then I couldn't care less about who can trust who!" He shouted in the Keyblade Master's face. Sora glared daggers at him. "What is wrong with you?" He muttered, angrily. Manny's response was to give him one more glare, and turn away from him.

Diego smirked at Sid. "You won't always have these guys here to protect you. When that day comes you better watch your back, because I'll be chewing on it." He threatened.

As the rest of the team started to head for their destination, all Sid could was whimper, "Help me…"


	9. Prepare for the Ice age

Sora and co. continued to head toward the Glacier Pass. Even though Sora was used to traveling long distances for certain reasons, this time he was actually annoyed; and it wasn't because of walking this far. Instead, it was because this whole time the baby had been crying and screaming and he seemed like he would never stop. After about two more hours of crying, Donald finally exclaimed "Make it stop, I can't take it anymore!"

"I've eaten things that didn't complain this much!" Diego complained. "It won't stop squirming!" Sid said, holding onto the baby upside down. "You're holding it wrong." Bonnie pointed out. "Watch its head!" Sora warned him. "Just put it down!" Riku finally shouted.

Sid put the baby onto a rock, but it still didn't stop bawling. "Hey, its nose is dry." Diego observed. "That means something's wrong." Sid thought. "Well, actually-," Emilie began, but was interrupted by Diego. "Someone should lick it, just in case." "I'll do it." Sid volunteered.

"Hold on, he's wearing a diaper." Manny pointed out. "So?" "So if he poops, where does it go?" Everyone stared at the baby in disgust. "Humans are disgusting!" Sid exclaimed. Sora bit back a protest.

"Okay, you, check for poop." Manny ordered Sid. "Hey, why am I the poop checker?" Sid demanded. "Because you're the one who got us into this mess, and because you're small and insignificant, and because I'll pummel you if you don't." Manny threatened. "Any other reasons?"

"NOW, SID!" Everyone exclaimed.

Sid reluctantly started opening the diaper, with occasional groans of disgust. Finally he took it off and started moving it around. "Alright, look out, coming through!" Sid warned. "Hey, be careful with that!" Sora said. "Stop moving that thing around!" Kairi said as he narrowly missed hitting her with it.

Sid through the diaper high in the air and it landed on Emilie's feline face. She groaned in disgust and took it off…only to see that it was actually empty. "Gotcha!" Sid laughed. Emilie slapped him in the face, making Sid do a goofy grin. "Will you knock it off?" The baby giggled at the sloth's funny face, before crying again.

"Hey, do it again! He liked it." Goofy said. Emilie hit him again, and the baby laughed again. "Hey, it's making me feel better too." Riku grinned.

Sid moved the baby to Sora. "You hold it, Sora." Sora hit Sid again, the baby giggled. This time the baby tried to slap him himself, but Sid grabbed his hand and stopped him from going any further. THIS made the baby cry again, and it was louder than before.

Sid placed the baby back on the rock. "Turn him towards me!" Diego ordered. He covered his eyes with his hands as he said "Where's the baby?" He then opened them up and said "There he is!" The baby actually stopped crying. Satisfied, Diego did it again.

"Where's the baby? THERE HE IS!" He exclaimed, louder than before. This made the baby start bawling again.

"Stop it, you scared him!" Kairi scolded him. Suddenly, Bonnie heard a stomach growl, and it was coming from the baby. "He must be hungry." She guessed. "How about some milk?" Sora suggested. "Oh, I'd love some!" Sid said, excitedly.

"Not you, the baby!" Diego glared at him. Soon pretty much everyone started fighting, whether it was for how to find food, or another way to make the baby stop crying. Bonnie couldn't take it anymore.

"ENOUGH!!" Everyone turned at the rabbit's sudden outburst, shocked that she shouted after being quiet for so long.

_Thunk._

They turned at the sudden noise near a bush. To their relief, a watermelon fell out of it.

"Food!"

Manny grabbed it. Suddenly out of nowhere a dodo bird with purple feathers and pink beak grabbed the melon from Manny and took it with him, that is after he made some mocking sounds to Sora and co.

Sora stared after the bird. "Now what?"

**XXX**

"Prepare for the Ice age!" A dodo bird ordered groups of other dodo birds. Sora had never seen so many before. They were extinct in his world, after all. They looked like they were organizing groups to do certain things. It was almost like a school.

"Ice age?" Mollie asked, confused.

"I've read about these nut-jobs." Donald muttered.

The dodo bird that took the melon placed it with two more melons on a tree stump. He looked up and spotted Sora and co. "Intruders! Intruders!" He squawked in alarm.

One dodo bird was explaining something to three others while standing over a whole that had steam coming out of it. "Don't fall in." He said sternly. "If you do, you'll eventually-," "Intruders! Intru-AAH!" The squawking dodo bird fell into the pit. "…burn and die…" The other dodo bird finished.

"Hey, can we have our melon back?" Manny asked. "You see, Junior's hungry and-," Emilie began to explain, but was interrupted by one of the birds.

"No way! This is our private stockpile for the Ice age! This is what we'll use to survive for a billion years!" He explained.

Riku eyed the melons with a confused look on his face. "So you got _three_ melons?" He asked.

The birds looked at the melons nervously. Then the one that spoke before stood up. "If you weren't smart enough to plan ahead then doom on you!" The rest of the birds started to approach Sora and co. while chanting "doom on you."

"_Doom on you, doom on you, doom on you…"_ "Get away from us." Manny said, somewhat irritably. The bird that spoke up slipped on one of the melons and caused it to roll over to the hungry baby.

"Oh no you don't! Attack!" He ordered the birds. One of them kicked the melon away from the baby. They started passing it to one another until there was no bird left. It was sent falling off a cliff.

"The melon!" One of them explained. Due to their tiny brains, the birds chased it down the cliff; which of course, wasn't the wisest idea.

"There goes our last female." One of the birds muttered.

Mollie snuck over to the tree stump and tried getting another melon. The birds gasped and ran over to Mollie and kicked the melon from her hand, sending it near the crater where the terrible gas is.

The dodo birds used their beaks to try and stop it from falling in, but in the end it slipped from their grasps and they, along with the melon, fell into the gas.

The birds turned back to the stump. "The last melon…" They said, overdramatically. Donald was holding onto it in his tiny mouth. "Uh oh…" The birds piled up on Donald until his spiky body was no longer visible.

Manny caught the melon with his trunk and lifted it up high to prevent the birds from catching it. He didn't notice that one of the birds were behind him. The bird spotted his tail, and with a smirk, bit it hard.

Manny shouted in pain, causing the melon to go flying from his trunk. Luckily, Sid was there to catch it before anyone else could.

His victory was short lived when he realized how many birds he was dealing with. There were rows of them in front of him, behind him, and in corners of cliffs everywhere.

"Sid!" Sora exclaimed, fearing for his friend's life. The baby looked really scared about what could happen too.

Looking into the eyes of the worried baby, Sid felt his fear drain away. It was replaced with steel determination to feed the poor thing. _You can do this._ He thought. With a determined gleam in his eye, he started charging through the pack of ticked off dodo birds.

The birds squawked in surprise and fear as Sid charged through them. Some even randomly landed on top of each other and looked like a circus line.

Soon there were dodo birds everywhere around Sid. There was no way he could escape them all…

Or could he?

With a victorious battle cry, Sid leaped over the swarming birds right before Sora and co.'s eyes. Sora looked worried at how high up he was. The baby closed his eyes, hoping that Sid would be alright when he landed.

Sid landed on the ground with an earthshaking _thud._ The baby opened his eyes, expecting to see a terribly injured Sid. Instead, he saw a sloth holding onto the melon like it was a trophy. The baby cried out in happiness for Sid's victory. Sora, Riku, and Kairi gave each other high trunks(?), and Donald and Goofy butted each other's heads playfully. Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie just grinned. Even Manny and Diego looked happy.

Sid lifted up the melon into the air and slammed it onto the ground for glory.

_Splat._

The melon broke open, revealing it's pink skin on the inside. Everyone stared at the melon with either annoyed or angry looks on their faces. "Aw, Sid! Now we gotta find more food!" Riku exclaimed.

But the baby didn't seem to mind eating the inside of the fruit. Sora sighed in relief. "Remind me to never baby sit again." Kairi playfully butted him in the shoulder.

They looked up from the baby eating to see the birds standing on top of one another. Emilie narrowed her eyes in amusement. "Hey look, dinner and a show."

The birds lost their balance and fell over the cliff.


	10. Diego's plan

After the crazy effort it took to find food, Sora and co. made themselves a camp that night. Sid was still bragging about his HEROIC way of getting the melon.

"Now, to find a meal befitting a conquering hero." He pushed back a branch, only for it to slap him in the back of the head as soon as he let go. Sid got an idea. "A foe?" He mimicked some karate stances. "Hey, you want a piece of me? HEE-YAAH!" He punched the hole inside the tree, and pulled out an acorn.

"Spoiled, and worthy of the noble…" Just when he was going to pop the acorn in his mouth, out of nowhere a squirrel appeared and tried to take it out. Sid gave in to his pulling and the squirrel got the acorn. It waved its knuckles at him, which probably meant something along the lines of "Get your own acorn!"

Kairi wrapped her trunk around the baby. "Bedtime, little guy." She said. She looked around. Diego was already asleep, Goofy was sleeping on his back, snoring now and then, Donald was curled up in a ball, showing only his spikes, Mollie, Emilie, and Bonnie were next to each other, Riku was by himself near Diego, Manny was in a corner, and Sora just arrived at the scene and sat down next to Kairi.

"Today sure was hectic, wasn't it?" Sora asked. Kairi smiled. "I'll say. Looks like I'll have to get used to it now that I'm traveling with you." Sora grinned. "Good point. Donald, Goofy, and I have gone through much weirder things than this." Sid eventually returned.

"Oh, the triumphant return." Manny spoke from where he was trying to sleep, sarcasm dripping in his words. "Oh that? It's no big deal. How about a good night kiss for your buddy?" He asked.

"Shh, he's asleep!" Kairi shushed him. "I was talking to you." Sid pointed at Manny, earning a glare from the latter. Sid yawned. "Fine, I'll tuck myself in. Good night." He got into one position, but as if he hated it he immediately changed it, making a few moaning and groaning sounds. THIS got him annoyed looks from Sora, Kairi, and Manny. "WILL YOU STOP IT!" The three exclaimed.

"Alright, alright! I'm just trying to relax." Sid finally got into a position he was comfortable with, and fell asleep.

Sora and Manny fell asleep too, but Kairi was a little worried. She looked at Diego. _I have to stay awake. Who knows whether or not Diego will steal the baby. _She thought worriedly. She couldn't stand losing the precious child she was holding to a fierce tiger like Diego. Regardless of the fact that he was helping them, she still didn't trust him.

Her attempt to stay awake was failing. Her eyelids were weighing down like tons, and Sora's soft warm fur against her body didn't help her much. She eventually gave in and fell into a tempting and much needed sleep.

Diego's eyes snapped open when he sensed that everyone was asleep. He approached the sleeping baby in Kairi's trunk. Unsheathing his claws, he prepared to take the baby…but then he hesitated and drew them back. He made sure that everyone was still sleeping before trying again. But as soon as he touched him, Kairi instinctively held the baby tighter and brought him closer to her.

Suddenly he caught a strange scent in the air. He pricked his ears and eyed the bushes. Sure enough, they moved. With an impressive leap, Diego pinned down the intruder and prepared to claw him, until he saw who it was. "What the…"

"Go ahead, slice me. It'll be the last thing you ever do." One of his pack members, Zeke, threatened. "I'm working here, you waste of fur." Diego said, out of annoyance.

"Frustrated, Diego," Another member of the pack, Oscar, said. "Tracking down a helpless baby too difficult for you?" He mocked, with cold amusement.

"What are you two doing here?" Diego demanded. "Soto's getting tired of waiting for you." Oscar began to explain. "Yeah, he said 'come back with the baby, OR DON'T COME BACK AT ALL!'" Zeke finished, laughing.

"Well I have a message for Soto. Tell him I'm bringing the baby, and tell him I'm bringing a Keybearer." Diego said.

"A Keybearer?" Zeke repeated. "Is it the one Maleficent told us to destroy for her?" Oscar asked.

Diego pointed at the snoozing travelers. "That's right. And he's got a whole bunch of friends who wield Keyblades as well, and a mammoth to boot." He explained. Zeke nearly drooled at the sight of them.

"Look at all that meat…Let's get em'!" He started to charge at them, but was stopped by Diego. "Not yet! It'll take the whole pack to bring them down. And tell Soto to bring as many Heartless as he can…NOW." The two headed back to the pass to tell Soto the news.

Diego returned to his spot and curled up like the cat he is. At last, sleep hit him like a gentle black wave.


	11. Traveling

Kairi opened her sleepy eyes. Immediately, she felt like there was something wrong. Was she missing something? She tightened her trunk around the baby…

_The baby!_

Kairi immediately forgot about her sleepiness and stormed right in front of Diego. The crashing of her now large feet was enough to wake the startled tiger.

"Where's the baby?" She demanded. "You lost it?" Diego asked. Kairi searched his face for any sign of lying. She didn't find any, she only found confusion and concern.

The noise she made must have awakened the others as well, because they were stirring. "What's going on guys?" Sora yawned. "The baby's gone!" Kairi exclaimed.

"What?!" Sora looked around the others. They didn't have the baby either. But their was someone missing. They all thought about the most reasonable explanation for the baby's disappearance.

"SID!"

**XXX**

Sid was having the time of his life. He was in a mud pool with two other female sloths, who were going gaga over him because of the baby he was holding.

"Oh, it's so ugly, but absolutely adorable." The skinny female sloth said. "Hey little pumpkin!" The fat female sloth cooed. "Where did you find him?"

"This poor little guy was all alone in the wild, sabers were closing in on him, so I snatched him!" Sid lied. "You were so brave."

"Well, he needed me and I've always wanted one of my own." He said. "Really? I find that attractive in a male." The fat one said, obviously flirting. "Well, who wouldn't want a family, I always say." He lied once again. He didn't notice that he dropped the baby, who was sinking into the mud.

Sid quickly picked up the now muddy baby. The baby lifted his hand up, putting mud on Sid's face. Sid laughed sheepishly and grabbed something to wipe it off. "So as I was saying…" He realized that he was wiping his face with a trunk, which belonged to an angry Manny. Sora was right next to him, looking less than happy.

"Oh, uh, hi Manny." He greeted nervously. Manny took the baby out of Sid's hand and responded with "What's the matter with you?"

"Excuse me, ladies, I have to take care of something." Sid got out of the mud and started to follow Sora and Manny. While he was away, the girl's started talking to themselves.

"He's not much to look at, but it's so hard to find a family guy at this time around." The fat one muttered. "Tell me about it, such a sensitive one to get eaten."

**XXX**

"Guys, come on, I'm begging you, I need him!" Sid begged. "What, a good looking guy like you?" Sora asked him, sarcastically. "You say that, but you don't mean that." Sid said flatly.

"No seriously, look at you. Those ladies don't stand a chance." Manny said, with sarcasm in his voice as well. "You have a very cruel sense of humor." Sid said, angrily.

"Hey, don't let us cramp your style." Sora said. Sid took that the wrong way and grabbed the baby from Manny's trunk. "Thanks, guys, you're real pals." Manny immediately grabbed the baby again. "_Without _Pinky." Sid looked reluctant at first, but shoved it aside and waddled back to the mud pool without the baby.

"So ladies, where were we?" He wasn't expecting what came next. "Carl?" "Easy, Frank." Two rhinos gave low, threatening growl sounds. Sid turned white. _Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic…_

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

**XXX**

"He sees the women and he's suddenly a cheetah. And that tiger, 'Yeah I'm a great tracker!' Now I'm walking with a mammoth who's in desperate need of a haircut!" Manny complained. "Hey!" Sora shouted.

The baby laughed when Manny put him on a tree. "What are you looking at?" He asked it irritably. The baby kept giggling. "Look at you, you're gonna grow into a great predator, I don't think so." He started observing the baby with his trunk.

"You got a patch of fur, no fangs, no claws, you got skin wrapped all over you. Mush. What's so threatening about you?" He put his trunk near the baby, and the baby took it as a sign to hug him. Manny looked ready to protest, but he immediately softened when he saw how happy the baby looked, hugging him.

Sora was smiling at the scene. "I think he really likes you, Manny." He said. Manny didn't seem to listen. He hadn't felt this kind of warmth since…

He shook the thought out of his head and looked aggravated. "Hey, does look like a petting zoo to you?" He asked the baby, who was still clutching Manny's trunk. The baby fell off, but not without taking some hair out of Manny's nose with him. Manny gave a screech of pain. Sora was on the ground laughing, the baby started laughing too.

"Alright, wise guy, you just earned a time out." Manny scolded him as he placed the baby on a higher part of the branch. The baby was still laughing.

"Oh, you think that's funny, huh? How about this?" He put him on the highest branch there was.

"You're a little snack for the owls." He said. Then he muttered, half to himself, "You're a great little squirt, I'll give you that." Sora widened his eyes. Did Manny just compliment the baby?

He caught sight of Manny's eyes. There was a flash of guilt and even some sadness in them. Was he not telling something important to them? If so, what could it be?

**XXX**

Sid was running for his life from the rhinos _again._ Luckily, he ran into Emilie and came up with a plan.

"Thank goodness." He whispered, then shouted "Oh no! A jaguar! Help! Help!" "Where's the baby?" Emilie demanded. "Oh he's fine, Manny and Sora have him, just put me in your mouth." Sid suddenly went back to shouting again. "Oh he got me! Help!" He pretended to choke out.

"Get away from me." Emilie said, irritably. The rhinos were coming closer. Sid knew that there was only one thing to do to make Emilie follow his plan. He kicked her.

_Hard._

"That's it!" Emilie, in a fit of rage, growled and put Sid in her mouth. When the rhinos came by, Sid played dead inside of it. "No, the jaguar beat us to him!" Frank complained. Carl still looked a little suspicious. "Hold on a second…" He sniffed Sid a few times, then recoiled in disgust. "He's dead alright.

"Oh, carnivores have all the fun." Frank complained.

As soon as they were gone, Sid breathed out a sigh of relief. "Alright, thank you Emilie, you can let me go now." But Emilie still kept a firm a grip on Sid's neck. Sid cried out in fear. "Manny! Sora!" He choked as Emilie clenched her teeth tighter.

Manny, Sora, and the others arrived to see what Emilie was doing. "Guys, I thought we were in a hurry!" Donald complained. Sora looked at Sid in Emilie's mouth.

"Emilie, you might want to spit him out; you don't know where he's been." Emilie spat him out after thinking about what germs Sid could have on himself.

Sid rubbed his sore neck as he said, "For a second there, I actually thought you were gonna eat me." "I don't eat junk food." Emilie responded, flatly.

As the first flakes of snow started falling, Sora and co. started moving quickly. But because of how slow Sid was, he was behind most of the time.

Finally, Sora and co. stopped to wait for him. "Thanks for waiting." Sid breathlessly thanked as he plopped onto a guiser . Sora and Riku shared a knowing smile. "3, 2, 1…"

The guiser spouted, sending Sid straight up into the air. Sora and co. smiled with amusement. "Sure is faithful" Bonnie said. Sid plopped back into the whole with his legs sticking out.

It was Mollie's turn to hold the baby. The baby was playfully punching her in the chest. Mollie decided to poke him back. The baby did it again. Mollie did it. Mollie, baby, Mollie, baby. Soon they were in an all poking vs. punching fight. "Don't make me reach back there." Kairi growled. "Well he started it!" Mollie blamed. "I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!"

As Sora and co. crossed an ice berg to get to the opposite side, Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Manny's weight tipped the ice berg so they could get across. But because Sid was the last one to get off, as soon as they stepped off, Sid was sent tumbling down the other side.

Sid took a snowball and threw it at Sora, who looked back to see who did it. Sid tried to look as innocent as a kitten as he pointed at the baby. Sora sighed and started walking again.

Sora and co. came to a familiar architecture to Sora, Riku, and Kairi. "What an architecture, it'll never last." Manny commented. Sora, Kairi, and Riku stifled their snickers.

Diego stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a tiger paw print. He looked worriedly back at the coming travelers. _I can't let them find out…_ He quickly erased the paw print and replaced it with a human footprint. Though Manny didn't seem to buy it, they continued to follow him.

Sora was slipping on really slippery ice. Were he human, he probably would make it across. But thanks to his extra weight, slipping was more likely to happen. "Hi Sora." Sid was ice skating with ease.

He next pass, Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie, who weren't doing well with the ice either. "Hi girls.

He passed Donald and Goofy. Donald was trying to stand on top of Goofy's shell, but Goofy flipped over on his back and Donald was squished. "Aw nuts…"

Riku didn't look to happy with standing on ice either, he was using his Keyblade to balance himself. "Hi Riku."

Kairi was trying to move on the ice, but instead awkwardly fell on her side. "Hi Kairi.

Manny and Diego were slipping too. "Hi Manny, hi Diego." Sid did an impressive twirl in the air. _Crash._ Sid lodged himself into the ice wall. "Hey Sid." Manny waved to him as they walked on.

"You're lost, aren't you?" Emilie asked Diego. "No, I know exactly where I'm going." He assured her. "Why don't we ask him for directions?" Mollie pointed at the same squirrel who took away the acorn Sid found. He was trying to bury his acorn.

"I don't need directions." Diego replied, stubbornly. "Fine, we'll ask him. Hey, have you seen a herd of humans go by here?" Sora asked. The squirrel shook his head, but then he thought again and looked ready to do sign language. "Oh, I love this game!" Mollie cheered.

The squirrel held up three fingers. "Three words, first word," He stomped his foot. "Stomp," Kairi guessed. The squirrel stomped harder. "Uh stamp!" Bonnie guessed. The squirrel shook his head. "Let me try, uh…pack!" Riku guessed. The squirrel nodded.

"Good one, Riku." Sora complimented. "Okay, long teeth," Sora guessed. "And claws." Goofy finished.

Diego nervously sheathed his claws. He knew what he was talking about. His pack had been here! He had to stop them from finding out.

"Um…pack of bears?" Sora tried. "Pack of wolves?" Mollie tried. "Hold on, I got it. Pack of whiskers!" Donald guessed. The squirrel kept pointing at Diego, but Sora and co. weren't paying attention. Diego, to keep his pack a secret, flicked the squirrel away with his claw. The squirrel was sent flying, screaming comically the whole way. As he rolled down the snowy hill, he became a giant snow ball.

Sid threw another snowball at Sora. This time though, the baby actually pointed at Sid accusingly. As if to punish him, the snowball that the squirrel rolled into landed on Sid. Sora and co. smiled with amusement.

A blizzard was blowing in on Sora and co. Emilie's tail was frozen solid, Diego's teeth were frozen, Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Manny's tusks were frozen, Mollie's tail was also frozen, Bonnie's ears were frozen together, Donald's spikes were frozen, Goofy's shell was frozen, and poor Sid's nose drippings were frozen. This will be a long blizzard…


	12. Let's go for a slide

Diego continued to lead them to the glacier pass. He suddenly caught the scent of something and looked down the cliff he was standing on. His eyes widened when he saw the humans. _Oh no!_ He desperately searched for a way to distract Sora and co., who were coming closer to spot the humans. If they saw them, then he'd never be able to lead them into his trap. The pack would exile him, or worse, kill him. His eyes landed on a cave that was on the right side. It would buy him time, he thought.

"Great news, I found a shortcut!" Diego exclaimed. The baby slid off of Manny's trunk and would've fallen off if Manny hadn't caught him and put him back on. "What do you mean a shortcut?" Sora questioned suspiciously. "I mean it's faster than the long way around," Diego defined, answering Sora's question the wrong way.

"He knows what a shortcut is!" Kairi defended. Diego sighed. "Look, either we take that way and beat the humans to the Glacier pass, or we take the long way and miss them." Manny looked at the cave. The top had icicles that were just begging to fall, and the entrance looked incredibly narrow. If the outside looked this dangerous, who knows what the _inside _is like.

"Through there…" Manny said suspiciously. "What do you take us for?" He asked. Diego tried to persuade him. "This time tomorrow, you could be a free mammoth. You won't have any of these weirdoes following you. Or Manny, personally I never get tired of peek-a-boo." He gestured to the baby, who was pulling on an irritated Manny's eye lids.

Sid appeared with an two icicles. "Hey guys, look at this." He put the two against his neck and made it look like it was sticking right through him. He even made choking sounds to add the effect.

"Sid, Diego found a shortcut." Bonnie explained. Sid looked up at the icicles nervously. "No thanks, I choose life." Diego got dangerously close to him. "Well I suggest you take the Short cut." He growled.

"Are you threatening me?"

"MOVE, SLOTH!"

Diego's sudden outburst echoed across the cliff. The icicles started to fall from the vibrations. "Way to go, tiger." Mollie said, sarcastically. "We gotta get in there!" Sora began running into the narrow cave, with the others following.

The vibrations didn't cease yet. The icicles of Sora and co.'s heads were shaking and looked ready to fall. Fearing for their lives, they headed toward the entrance, but the snow pile on the outside of the cave closed in on it, preventing a way out.

By nothing but pure luck, the icicles stopped shaking and remained in their place. Sora looked at the cave entrance, the snow really did trap them in, nothing but a single light on the outside was showing.

"Okay, all in favor of doing the shortcut?" Riku asked. Everyone raised their trunks/hands/paws. "All opposed?" Nobody moved. "Let's go forward then."

Behind their backs, the last light on the outside disappeared.

**XXX**

The cave wasn't the best shortcut Sora had been to.

Everywhere, there was ice either on the ground or hanging from the ceiling and walls. Their were all sorts of unlucky frozen creatures inside the ice, some even looked like the pre evolution of Sid. But the weirdest one was a UFO frozen in the ice. The baby even turned to look at it and made a familiar Alien sign.

"Could you guys keep up? It's hard enough to look after one baby." Manny groaned. Sora looked at the ice in front of him. As he looked down, he realized that it formed a slide of sorts. As he continued staring at it, he saw a figure slide down. He narrowed his eyes to identify it.

_Oh, it's the baby…_

"AAAAAHHHH!!" Everyone screamed when they realized who was sliding down there. "Come on, we got to save him!" Donald squawked as they jumped into the slide.

Sora had never been on a more epic slide. Everywhere there were separate holes that each one went into, and they were all screaming either in fear or they were having fun. They slid upward and each passed each other, still screaming. Even the squirrel who helped them before passed by on the slide, trying to catch his acorn only to miss by a mile.

Sora and co. went into separate holes again with sucking sounds that sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Sid was with the baby, Sora was with Manny, Kairi, and Riku, Donald and Goofy were together of course, Emilie was with Diego, and Mollie and Bonnie were together.

Donald tried to keep his balance by staying on Goofy's shell, but instead he was running on it and Goofy was rolling down the ice at an incredible speed. Donald and Goofy flew over an incoming ice berg and landed in between Kairi's tusks, who had just appeared underneath them.

Mollie was trying to steer Bonnie different ways by turning her ears left and right. Of course it didn't work, and the two fell through a hole and landed on Riku's back.

Sid was trying to catch the baby, who was right in front of him. With a whoop of excitement, he grabbed him. "I gotcha!" His victory was short lived when he fell through a hole and landed on Manny, leaving the baby sliding on his own.

Emilie and Diego were falling through a hole, using their claws to try to stop them from falling. Soon the hole ended and they fell with nothing to hold on to. Due to her now cat instincts, Emilie flipped over and faced the ground the right way, claws unsheathed. But instead of hitting ground, Sora, who appeared out of nowhere, was what she landed on instead. He screamed in pain as her claws dug into his now furry flesh.

Sora and co.(excluding the baby) continued sliding down and screaming. Coming up in front of them was an ice berg that was jutting out of the ground. Sid grabbed Sora and Manny's trunks and shouted into them "Ice berg ahead!" for a warning.

They stopped as soon as soon as they were about to fall off of it. Just below them, the baby was sliding further away. The ice berg started to break beneath the gangs large weight. "Oh no…" Riku muttered before they fell onto the ice at the bottom, with the ice berg still underneath them.

The ice berg eventually melted from the grinding against more ice. Soon Sora and co. were on separate slides. Diego suddenly arched his back like he was trying to go faster. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was trying to reach the baby.

Sora and Manny were trying to beat Diego to it first. They still couldn't trust the tiger. Mollie reached for the baby to grab him, only to miss by a mile. She cursed under her breath.

Suddenly the slide that the baby was on jutted out in the air. The baby was sent flying. Manny turned around and got ready to catch it while the others started to head toward the wall.

The squirrel stuck an acorn in the ice that was the wall. With a nod of satisfaction, he started to head off to find more… "AAAAHHHH!" He tried to pull it out when he saw that Sora and co. were sliding towards it. They ran into the squirrel and the acorn, leaving shapes of their figures in the wall.

Manny finally caught the baby, but he didn't notice the wall behind him. Emilie and Mollie screamed when Manny ran into the wall, leaving his shape in it.

The gang all looked like they had just woken up from a nap, except for Sora, who looked he had the time of his life. "Yeah! Whoo! Who's up for round two?" No one responded, instead they just gave him odd looks. Sora calmed down, awkwardly.

"T-tell the kid to more careful…"

The squirrel dazedly got up and looked around for his precious acorn. He thought he spotted it. He gave an excited squeal and ran to grab it…but it turned out to be a drawing on the wall and he ran into. He was out cold as soon as he hit the ground.


	13. Manny's past

After all the trouble it took to make it through, Sora and co. finally made it to the end of the cave. It was strange, through most of the cave, there was only ice, but at the end was a rock wall. But that wasn't the strangest part, all over the wall was drawings of every animal that exists or existed. They also found animals that represented themselves.

Sid spotted a familiar animal. "Hey look, tigers!" The baby gave a small cry of fear. "No it's okay, the tigers are just playing tag with the antelope…" Mollie looked a little closer and realized that tigers were actually hunting and eating them. "…Yeah, if you call biting animals with your teeth tag." She said. Diego approached Mollie. "Come on Mollie, let's play tag. You're it." Mollie laughed nervously.

"Okay where are the sloths? You never see any sloths on these things, have you ever noticed?" Sid complained. Sora spotted something. "Hey look, Manny, a mammoth."

"Oh, somebody pinch me." Manny said sarcastically. "Hey, this fat one looks just like you!" Emilie observed. "And he has a family,"-Manny froze-"and he's happy." Kairi put in.

"Look, he's playing with his kid!" Mollie said. "You see Manny, _that's _your problem, that's what mammoths are supposed to do: find a mate," "Mollie…" Riku muttered. "Have baby mammoths, and-,"

"Mollie!" Riku exclaimed.

"What?"

"Shut up."

Mollie looked ready to protest, but she kept quiet as soon as she saw the look in Manny's eyes. They reflected buried memories of pain, loss, and sadness.

Manny was remembering what had happened. He had mated with a beautiful she-mammoth, and they had a child. One day when his son was playing, he ran into humans. Manny tried to protect them, but he couldn't get to them in time, the humans wouldn't let him. By the time he did get through, his wife and son were gone for good. Since then, Manny had been a loner.

Sora and co. didn't even need to ask Manny to realize that he had lost his family. Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie were stifling tears, Donald and Goofy were thinking about what would've happened if his family was still alive, Riku and Kairi looked utterly shocked, while Sora looked like he had just received news that somebody he cared about had died.

Manny wiped his trunk across the drawing of his beloved son, until his trunk made contact with the baby's tiny pink hand. Manny picked him up, and as if the baby had understood his feelings of loneliness and loss, he gave him a warm hug. For the first time since Manny could remember, he felt his heart glow with contentment and happiness at the feeling.

Sid shed a small tear at the scene, and wiped it on Diego's fur. Were they not watching this touching scene, Diego probably would have killed him.

Sora turned to Manny. "Manny… I'm sorry…I didn't know about-," For the first time since Sora had seen him, Manny flashed him a gentle smile. "Let's keep going guys." Manny placed the baby on his back and headed to the cave exit. Sora grinned and followed after him, the others came as well.

Before Diego left, he stopped to stare at the memorable drawing one more time…

**An: This scene was one of my favorite parts in the movie. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Review please.**


	14. Looking out for each other

"Hey look at that!" Goofy pointed straight ahead with his nose. A few miles away from Sora and co. was a large mountain. It was huge, black, and two sharp and pointy rocks were sticking up, slightly curved, one taller than the other.

"The tiger actually did it! There's Half peak. Next stop, the Glacier Pass. How could have ever doubted you?" Manny asked Diego.

Sora grinned. Ever since Manny saw the drawing of his family in the cave, he had been acting more kind and optimistic. It's a nice change. Maybe finding the baby was a really good thing for him.

"Did you hear that, little fella? You're almost home!" Sid cheered.

Sora was glad too. On a day like this, he couldn't help feeling optimistic. There was no sign of a blizzard, Manny was happier, and they were really close to returning the baby to his family. But, he thought, he still needed to find the Crystal Star. That thought had been nipping at his optimism. Despite how long he'd been traveling in this world, he didn't find even a hint of it. What if they never find it? Then Emilie won't be able to stop Aaron…

He shook the thought out of his head. Right now, he had to focus on making sure the baby was safely returned. After all, he had always stopped to help his friends, and somehow he always found what he was looking for.

Donald felt an odd sensation at his feet. He lifted them up and saw that his footprints actually left lava in them.

"My feet are sweating…"

"Do we need a newsflash every time your body does something?" Bonnie asked Emilie. "He's trying to get our attention, just ignore him." She replied.

"I mean it! My feet are _really _hot!" Donald started running away from the hot sensation he felt under his stubby little paws.

_Rumble…_

Sora and co. froze at the sudden sound. "Tell me that was your stomach." Manny asked Diego. Diego shushed him, trying to find out what the sound is and where it's coming from.

"I'm sure it's just from under…" The sound got louder. "From under…ground?" Sid guessed.

Suddenly right behind them, Lava spouted from the snow they were walking on. They screamed in fear and started running away. Soon even more lava spouted from underneath until all that was left was a narrow pathway of snow for them to run across. Right below them was hot lava, lapping hungrily against the snow.

A layer of snow dropped before Emilie and Diego's eyes. There was a large gap between where they were standing and where Manny and Sid were. Emilie gulped. "Oh no, we're not gonna make it!"

"What? Emilie, you're a jaguar! You can jump across to the other side! It's in our blood!" Diego persuaded. Emilie still looked unsure.

"Emilie, I know you can do this, just jump like this!" Diego jumped across the gap. Sid was running away. "Come on, keep up with me!" Riku noticed that Sid was only slipping on ice. "We would if you were moving!"

Emilie closed her eyes, held her breath, and jumped. She landed gracefully on the other side. "Wow, I wish I could jump like that." Sid wished, longingly.

"Wish granted!"

Manny slapped Sid across the ice so he made it to the other side before they did, out of harms way. Bonnie, Donald, Goofy, and Riku quickly ran to join him.

"Come on, move faster!" Mollie shouted over the exploding of more lava. "Have you noticed the river of lava?!" Kairi demanded, looking nervously over the edge.

Manny looked in front of him to see the lava rising up in front of the snow he was about to walk across. He looked at the baby, who was whimpering in fear. Sora, Kairi, and Mollie's eyes glowed with determination. With a yelp, they leaped across the snow, which fell down into the lava at the last second.

Emilie leaped across with ease, but Diego hesitated. If he didn't jump far enough, he would be cooked by the lava and that would be it. Game over.

"Diego, you can do it! Hurry up!" Mollie, Bonnie and Emilie cheered him on. Diego leaped across the gap and grabbed the edge with her unsheathed claws. He was losing his grip, he didn't jump far enough.

Sora and Manny widened their eyes when they saw their friend in danger. "Hold Pinky!" He handed the baby to Sid. The ice that Emilie was hanging onto was too thin for Manny to put his whole body on it. All he could do was stretch out his trunk and hope that Diego could reach it. Diego stretched out his paw as far as he could…

The ice Diego was hanging onto fell underneath him, and he grabbed onto Manny's trunk right before he could join the ice in the lava. Diego stuck his unsheathed claws into Manny's trunk, emitting a growl of pain from Manny. Manny threw Diego to the safe side, and was about to run back when the ice he was standing on gave way under his weight.

He fell with the ice into the fiery lava pits below him.

"Manny!" Sora cried. He couldn't believe it, Manny had just risked his own life to save Diego even though he didn't trust him. To believe he was gone…

Suddenly another bolt of lava shot into the air, and on top of it was Manny on standing on the ice! Manny trumpeted in alarm and fell flat on the ground.

"Manny, are you alright? Say something!" Sora pleaded him as he approached the half conscious mammoth.

Manny muttered something inaudible.

"What? I didn't hear you." Sora asked. "You're standing on my trunk…" Sora lifted his foot off of Manny's trunk and sighed in relief. "Thank goodness you're alright."

"Why did you do that? You could've died trying to save me." Diego pointed out. Manny gave a weak grin. "That's what you do in a herd; you look out for each other." He replied.

"Well, thanks." Diego smiled gratefully.

Mollie looked around. "I don't know about you guys, but we are the weirdest herd I've ever seen."


	15. Baby steps

At Half peak, a vicious pack of tigers were still waiting for Diego to return with the baby and the just mentioned Keybearers. The leader of the pack, Soto, paced the floor impatiently.

Zeke laughed in excitement. "I can't wait to get my hands on those Keybearers! Not only will we get a great meal, but Maleficent will reward us greatly!" "No one touches the Keybearers until I get that baby!" Soto said sternly.

Zeke started planning to himself, but to everyone's annoyance, he was loud enough for them to hear him. "First, I'm going to slash his hindquarters, I'll put the white meat in one pile, and the dark in another," He planned.

"Knock it off, I'm starving!" Another member of the pack, Lenny, ordered.

Zeke wasn't listening. "Next the shoulders, incredibly rough, but extremely _juicy…_

"I said to knock it off!" Lenny looked ready to claw Zeke, but was stopped by Soto. "Save your energy! Keybearers don't go down easy. Especially the one who destroyed Maleficent." He started to back Lenny into a corner. "We have to deal with him before the others, and there's only one way to take him down. First we have to force him into a corner, cut off his escape routines, and when you three and our Heartless have him trapped, I'll go for the _throat._"

Lenny gulped and clutched his own throat, as if he expected Soto to kill him too. Soto smirked at his fear. The Keybearer will be there's…

**XXX**

Back with our heroes, a terrible blizzard spread over them, stinging there furry skin like needles and blocking their view. "Guys, we gotta get this kid out of the wind," Manny gestured to the baby, who looked like he was ready to fall asleep. Every one knows what happens when some one falls asleep in the snow.

"How much further?" Kairi asked Diego. "Three miles." He responded. "I'm too tired and cold to go on." Mollie complained. "Looks like we can rest here, then we can get there in the morning." Sora pointed his tan colored trunk to a wall that was blocking the snow from intruding on them. It looked somewhat like the cave with all the drawings on it, though this time there were no drawings. Other than that, it was a reasonable place to take a break.

Sid picked up a stick, and for reasons yet to be explained, he started drawing on the wall. "What are you doing?" Bonnie asked him. "I'm putting sloths on the map." He responded. Sora got a good look at the drawing of the sloth. It looked terrible compared to the drawings on the cave wall they saw before. The sloth had its tongue sticking out, its arms looked like sticks with bubbles on them, most likely the hands, and its eyes were bulgy and huge.

"Why don't you make it more realistic and draw him lying down?" Donald asked. "Then make him rounder." Riku smirked. Sora grabbed the stick and drew a circle around the sloth.

"Ha, ha, I forgot how to laugh." Sid said flatly. He started trying to erase the drawing by scratching it out. Sparks suddenly flew out of it and landed on a pile of sticks nearby. Sora and co.'s eyes widened when they realized that Sid just made fire.

Sid looked at the fire proudly. "I'm a genius!"

When the fire was roaring with the life of a flame, Mollie looked like she was telling ghost stories. "And that is when the brave children finally found out…" She summoned her Keyblade and held it near the fire to make herself look sinister. "The Castle was haunted!" She made an odd high pitched howling sound that could be heard miles away. The gang looked at her with dull looks on their faces.(1)

"Well that's…quite a story there Mollie." Bonnie false complimented the hyperactive weasel. Sid suddenly got up. "As I was saying before, I would now like you to refer to me as "Sid, Lord of the Flame!'" He said proudly, obviously bragging about his making fire.

"Hey Lord of the Flame, your tail's on fire." Emilie looked at his tail. Sid looked behind him and saw that she was right. He started running around in circles, screaming in pain from the fire. Diego grabbed him and pulled him into the snow, putting out the flame. Sid sighed in relief.

"Thank you, from now on I'm gonna call you Diego." He said gratefully. "Lord, don't touch me or you'll be dead." Sid gasped. "I'm just kidding, you little knuckle-head!" Diego grabbed his skinny neck and gave Sid an affectionate noogie.

"Hey guys," Manny caught their attention. "Look at this." Manny gestured to the baby, who was doing the most adorable thing: he was walking!

"I don't believe it!" Mollie said in almost a whisper. The baby's walking was off to a wobbly start, Manny put his trunk near him just in case. The baby eventually got the hang of it and he started walking on his own. He was actually walking toward Diego.

"Um, no go to him." Diego pointed to Sora. But the baby kept walking toward Diego. "To him." Diego said, in a slight pleading voice. The baby made it to Diego and fell on his paws, nuzzling his head against his orange fur.

"Okay…" Diego said awkwardly. The baby cooed. "Good job, now keep practicing." He pushed the baby back on his feet, and he continued walking. "That's so sweet, our little baby is growing up." Kairi smiled. The baby yawned sleepily.

"Alright, bedtime Lumpy. Sora, it's your turn to sleep with him." Manny put the baby in Sora's trunk. The baby fell asleep almost instantly. Sora grinned at the small "pink thing". "You'll be home soon." He whispered to him softly, before drifting off to sleep.

Sid talked to Diego and Kairi. "Y'know guys, I've never had a friend who would risk his life to save me." Sid smiled, thinking about when Manny saved him from the rhinos.

"Yeah, Manny's a really good guy." Kairi said. "Well, good night." Sid turned over and fell asleep. Kairi sat next to Sora and fell asleep against him.

Diego turned his head to half peak. The next day was when he'd give the baby and the Keybearers to his pack. But…why would he want to kill these guys? Manny had saved his life, and though Sora didn't trust him at first, he later accepted him as a close friend. In fact, all the Keybearers trusted him now. And he's just playing with their trust without them knowing anything about his plan.

Diego sighed uneasily and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was gonna be a long day.

Behind the heroes' sleeping bodies, the squirrel came in with a frozen acorn attached to a stick. He placed it over the fire, and it started to melt. The squirrel squealed in excitement as it was his again…until it popped into popcorn. The squirrel groaned in annoyance at his failure.

**(1). This scene has been brought to you by Avatar: The Last Airbender.**


	16. A price to pay

The next day, Sora and co. were finally at half peak. The blizzard was still going, but that didn't stop them from walking. They were finally going to return the baby to his herd!

Sid was holding the baby, cleaning him up. "Alright, let's get you cleaned up. We don't want you to meet your dad looking all dirty." He licked his finger and rubbed parts of dirt off of the baby's face until Kairi stopped him. "You clean up nice." She complimented.

"I think he's starting to look like me! Hey Diego, what do you think?" Sid asked Diego, who was looking guilty, and a little nervous.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this." He spoke for the first time since he got up. "Why not?" Sora asked. "Because if we save him he'll grow up to be a hunter, and who do you think he'll hunt?" He challenged.

"Maybe because we saved him, he won't hunt." Goofy pointed out optimistically.

"Yeah, and maybe he'll grow fur, and a long skinny neck, and call Sid Momma!" Diego shouted sarcastically. Riku looked at him strangely. "What's gotten into you?" He asked. Diego refused to meet his eyes. "Nothing. Let's just go, I'm freezing my tail off."

As they walked on, Emilie suddenly froze in place. She caught a familiar scent. It smelled like Diego…but there was a bunch of other scents that were just like it.

They weren't alone.

Sora noticed Emilie sniffing and came back to her. "What's wrong Emilie?" He asked. "I caught a scent that smells like Diego." She replied.

Sora looked back. "Of course you did, he's right behind us." He answered casually. "No, I mean he's not the only one. There are more scents just like him." She explained. Sora raked his thoughts for an explanation. "Maybe Diego's scent rubbed off on all of us. Come on, we have to keep going." He nudged her forward.

Diego stopped in place. He heard what Emilie had said, and if she really did sniff scents that were similar to his scent…

Diego looked up to see Lenny from his pack spying on them. Lenny hid himself from view as soon as Diego spotted him. Diego looked at Sora and co. nervously. They were going under a rock that formed a loop out of the ground. As soon as they pass it, the pack and the Heartless would attack.

"Hey Diego, are you frozen back there?" Manny called to him.

Diego looked at his paws unsurely. He brought them all this way, his plan had worked. They were gonna kill the baby and have the Keybearers as well. He should've felt victorious and proud, but for some reason, he didn't.

He felt guilty.

Manny had saved his life, the baby's life, and even Sid's life. Why would he want to kill him after what he did for him? Sora had accepted Diego as a friend and now has lots of faith in him. Not just Sora and Manny, everyone cares about him and would do anything to keep him from harm. What should he choose? His loyalty to the pack, or his loyalty to his dear friends?

He chose friends.

"Get down!" Diego ordered, catching up to them underneath the rock. "What?" Bonnie asked. "Get down and follow me." He whispered. "What's going on?" Kairi asked.

"At the bottom of Half Peak…there's an ambush waiting for you." Diego explained, looking incredibly guilty. "What do you mean ambush?" Sora demanded. A thought clicked in his head. When they first met Diego, he was always looking for an excuse to have the baby. It seemed like he wouldn't give up. Now he was actually leading them to the humans… or was he? Sora began to boil with anger and disbelief.

"You set us up!"

"It was my job! I was supposed to get the baby, but then-," "You brought us home for dinner!" Manny interrupted furiously. "That's it, you're out of the herd!" Mollie shouted, just as furious.

"I'm sorry." Diego apologized. "No you're not!" Sora summoned his Keyblade and pushed on Diego's neck so he was hanging against the wall. "Not yet." He hissed dangerously.

"Listen, I can help you!" Diego managed to choke out under the pressure of Sora's Keyblade. "Stay close guys, we can fight our way out." Sora planned. "You can't; the pack can summon Heartless thanks to Maleficent." Diego explained.

"Maleficent?!" Everyone except Mollie, Bonnie, Emilie, Manny, and Sid exclaimed. "How did she survive?" Goofy asked Donald. "Maleficent always seems to come out of a fight unscathed. Trust me, I know." Riku said, running through memories of his time with Maleficent.

"Who's Maleficent?" Emilie asked curiously. "We'll explain later." Kairi assured her.

"Guys, you have to trust me." Diego begged. "Trust you?! Why would we trust a big palooka like you?!" Donald demanded.

Diego had never looked more apologetic as he replied quietly "Because I'm your only chance."

**XXX**

"Hello Ladies." Diego greeted the pack as he entered their hide out. "Hey, look who decided to show up." Oscar smirked from the ledge he was standing on. "Diego, I was beginning to worry about you." Soto mocked. "No need to worry, we've got two minutes before we satisfy our taste for revenge." Diego explained, sinisterly. "Very nice." Soto praised.

Zeke's eyes widened as he looked out into the blizzard. "I see the weasel, and she's got the baby!" He exclaimed.

"Don't give away your positions until you see the spiky haired Keybearer who destroyed Maleficent, he's the one we have to surprise." Soto ordered sternly.

Zeke was shaking and hissing with excitement as he kept looking at the weasel holding the baby. Diego smirked. "You wanna maul something, don't you Zeke?" He asked. "I wanna maul!" Zeke whimpered. "What are you waiting for?" Diego persuaded.

With a roar of excitement, Zeke dashed after the weasel with the others(except Diego and Soto) following eagerly. "No! I said wait for the Keybearer!" Soto shouted. Diego put his best innocent face on and made a gesture that made it look like he said "I don't know." Soto growled and annoyance and gave to chase to them as well.

Mollie gasped in fear when she saw the tigers coming up. Right behind them, were some heartless who looked like tigers accept with blue fur and red stripes. These were tiger heartless.

Mollie quickly turned around and tried running as fast as she could, but a weasel's speed was no match for a tiger. There was no way she could make it…

Mollie leaped into the air, revealing that underneath her feet were ledges of wood shaped like snow boards. With a whoop of excitement she started boarding on the snowy road. But at one point, one of the boards ran into a rock so she had to use one. She regained her footing and set both feet on one board. With a gleam of determination, she continued onward with the baby in her hands.

She occasionally leaped into the air to show off a few tricks and slid on the curved rocks that were sticking out of the ground. "Loop de loop!" She cheered as she flipped into the air forming a loop de loop.

She jumped over rocks that were in her way and dodged other rocks by turning to the side. But she didn't expect a cliff to hang underneath her. She fell off the snowboard and slid on the ice leading her up to another cliff on the other side. But along the way, she dropped the baby!

The tiger Heartless sniffed the baby wrapped up in a blanket until Soto came in. With a smile of satisfaction, he turned it over and prepared for a meal…until he saw that the "baby" was snow put in a blanket.

"Sorry guys! It got a little frostbite!" Mollie laughed from where she was standing. Soto growled in frustration and hit the fake baby aside. "Get him!" He ordered his pack members and his Heartless.

But when the pack members and Heartless turned to the corner, they were met with a grinning Keyblade Master.

"Surprise!" Sora shouted as he threw a log into them, destroying the Heartless and knocking the pack members out cold.

Kairi, Riku, Bonnie, Emilie, Sid, Diego, and Manny got out of their hiding place. "Come on, let's go! We'll pick up Mollie and get out of here!" Bonnie planned.

Suddenly more of the tiger Heartless appeared around Kairi, Riku, Bonnie, Emilie, Sid, and Manny, keeping them out of Sora's reach. Soto appeared next to Diego.

"Come on, Diego. Let's bring this Keybearer down!"

**XXX**

Mollie was walking toward the baby's hiding place, not knowing that Zeke was following her.

She approached a rock with a hole in it. In it was the baby. "There he is." Mollie smiled as she saw him. The baby did a similar motion that Diego did when he was trying to make him stop crying. "That's right, where's the baby." Mollie understood. She turned around to see Zeke about to leap on her. With a scream, she quickly pulled the baby out of the hole and Zeke ended up stuck in it.

With a smirk, Mollie started pushing him in. "SURVIVAL-OF THE-FITTEST!" She shouted, kicking him farther in on each word. "I don't think so. Yeah!" She and the baby gave a high five.

**XXX**

Sora glared at Soto and Diego as they came closer to him. He should've known Diego was still tricking him.

Diego suddenly got in front of Sora, preventing Soto from getting to him. "What are you doing?!" Soto demanded.

"Leave the Keybearer alone." Diego ordered sternly. Soto gave him a death glare. He looked behind him to see the Heartless and Oscar and Lenny right behind him. "Fine, but I'll take you down first."

Soto leaped on Diego, and the two were put into a one on one cat fight. Sora ran to where the others were and tried to help them fight the Heartless.

Emilie and Kairi were fighting side by side, protecting the others back. Riku was slicing through Heartless with ease, and even using his tusks as a weapon as well. Manny was pushing most Heartless off of a cliff with his tusks, while Sid was warning him when some were trying to push _Manny _off. Donald fired powerful fire magic at them, and Goofy was rolling into them like a bowling ball(Strike!).

Sora was out of breath. _There's too many! What should I do?_

"Sora, use this." Bonnie, who appeared out of nowhere, gave him something. Sora looked at it closer and identified it as a summon charm. With a thank you, he called the name of it.

"Sonic!"

At a blinding speed, a blue hedgehog with spiky blue hair, white gloves, and red shoes appeared in front of Sora. "My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" He greeted before zipping into the Heartless battle faster then the speed of sound.

Two Heartless looked ready to pounce on Sonic, but he ran away before they could and they instead ran into each other. They were gone in a cloud of darkness.

"You're too slow!" Sonic taunted in a sing-songy voice. He took out what appeared to be a ring and spun around really fast, slicing any Heartless in his way. Soon, all of them were gone.

"See ya!" Sonic waved before disappearing to his own world. The pack was the only thing that he missed.

Soto threw Diego off of him, sending him slamming head first into a rock. He was out cold in seconds.

The pack started forcing Sora into a corner. Sora had nowhere to run, just as Soto planned. Kairi looked terrified. "Sora!" She shouted.

Diego drifted back to consciousness to see that Soto had backed Sora into a corner. Soto leaped for Sora's throat with a killing bite, but Diego was their to meet him first. Diego was out cold again by the bite.

Mollie and the baby appeared just in time to see Diego get bitten. The baby let out a cry of fear for Diego, which Mollie tried to stop. She was too late, Soto heard the baby cry and got ready to leap at him. Sora took advantage of his distraction and rammed him with his Keyblade into a wall, making the icicles jangle. The icicles fell to where Soto was lying, and(the following scene is too inappropriate to show viewers, we shall cut to the chase)

The other pack members ran away, no longer wishing to kill Sora now that their leader was dead.

Sid looked excitedly around him. "We did it!" He cheered.

"I wouldn't cheer yet, guys." Bonnie said solemnly, looking at Diego, half conscious on the snowy ground.

Everyone approached Diego nervously. "We were some team, huh?" Diego smiled weakly. " 'Were?' Come on we're still a team." Riku said, trying to stay positive. "I'm sorry I set you up." Diego apologized. "You know me, I'm too easy to overrun." Mollie replied. She set the baby next to Diego. The baby looked close to tears as he touched Diego's fur.

"Hey, knock it off, squirt. You gotta be strong. You have to take care of Manny, Sora, and the others…especially Sid and Mollie." He added for a humorous touch to the sad situation.

"Come on, you can do this. You're a tiger, you can make it through anything, it's in your blood." Emilie tried to cheer him up. "Tell him he's gonna be okay, Manny." Emilie ordered Manny. Manny didn't respond at all.

"Listen, you have to leave me here. If those humans get through the pass, you'll never catch them." Diego's voice came out in a whisper. "You didn't have to do that." Sora said, stifling tears. "That's what you do in a herd." Diego said, looking at Manny.

The baby let his tears fall, and tried to reach for Diego again, but was refrained by Sid, who picked him up. Sora let a tear run down his furry cheek. They defeated Soto, but paid a big price.

With heavy hearts, Sora and co. trudged to the end of the pass to find the humans.

**An: T_T This scene never fails to make me cry.**


	17. Returning the baby

The leader of the humans made it to the end of the glacier pass. He was really reluctant about leaving because his wife and his baby were missing here. If he left, then that meant that he'd be giving up on them. But the other humans had given up on looking for them. They kept trying to persuade him that the baby was gone for good. For the first time in a while, he believed they were right. The baby couldn't have survived the blizzard without anyone to look after him.

He took out the necklace that he had made for the baby and stared at it longingly. He gently placed it on a snow covered rock and started walking away, wanting to leave behind the last of his memories of his beloved son.

Just when he was at the end, he stopped. He could hear loud footsteps behind him, like someone was following him. He turned around, and saw animals walking to him in the distance. There were four mammoths, one had dark brown fur, one had tan fur and spiky hair, one had red fur, and one had black fur with silver tusks, there was also a black jaguar, a weasel, a white rabbit, a turtle thing, and a porcupine. The mammoth with dark brown fur approached him and lifted his trunk, preparing to strike him.

The human held out his spear warningly. Manny nonchalantly wrapped his trunk around his spear and pulled it out of his hands. He lifted his trunk and prepared to strike again. The human noticed that he seemed to be reaching for something on his back.

The human's herd were charging at Manny with their spears pointed at him. Mollie and Sid gasped at how close they were getting. Manny lifted the baby off of his back right when the herd was inches from him. The leader stopped them from charging after he saw the baby. Sid and Mollie fainted.

Manny gently placed the baby on the ground so he could walk to his father. His dad watched in amazement as the baby walked on his own to him. The two embraced in a loving hug. Sid and Mollie woke up in time to see this beautiful moment. Manny smiled at the scene and turned around to get ready to leave with the others coming with him.

The baby noticed Sora and co. leaving and started to call them back. He wanted to say goodbye to them one last time.

Sid picked up the baby and hugged it. "Don't forget about us, okay?" He asked him. Kairi embraced him as well. "Be good, little guy." Sora hugged him too. "I'm glad we met you." Manny was the last to hug him. "We won't forget about you." He smiled.

When the baby was given back to his father, the father put something on Manny's tusk. Manny looked at it and saw that it was a necklace, and one of the rocks on it looked just like the baby. Manny grinned at the father, which he took as a thank you.

When the herd started leaving, Sid turned to Sora. "Hey Sora, this is my thanks for helping us." He gave him a crystal that was shaped like a star. It was blue and even felt cold when he touched it. It was the Crystal Star!

"I found this somewhere. I don't know what it is, but it looks important." Sid explained. Sora dipped his head in gratitude. "Thank you, this is exactly what we needed. Guys, we better go." He looked around to see that Mollie was gone. "Mollie?"

Mollie held an acorn in front of the squirrel. "Okay, if I give you the acorn, will you help me whenever I call you?" The squirrel nodded. "Here you go." She gave him the acorn, and he gave her summon charm with a picture of an acorn on it.

"Okay, I'm ready." She assured everyone. Sora looked at Manny. "Goodbye Manny, I'm glad we got to do this." Manny smiled at the Keyblade Master. "Me too. You can come back anytime you want to." He replied.

Sora and co. started glowing as they were preparing to be transported to the Gummi ship. Sora looked at the baby for one more time. The baby covered his eyes and opened them again. "That's right, where's the baby." Sora laughed. He turned around and looked at the hill and saw a figure on it. He widened his eyes. It was Diego! He was limping, but other than that, he was alive!

Diego smiled when he saw Sora and waved to him. Sora smiled and waved back until he disappeared back into the Gummi ship.

**An: Finished with one of my favorite movies!**


	18. worries

Sora stared at the Crystal Star he had in his hand. He was sitting down in what looked like a living room of the Gummi ship. It was styled by Donald and Goofy to make Sora and the others feel more comfortable. "One down, who knows how many to go." He thought out loud.

Kairi entered and sat down next to him. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

Sora sighed. "Well, we've been in that world for a few days, and through it all we only got one Crystal Star. Sometimes I worry that if we don't collect enough in time than Aaron will take over the realms of light and darkness _before _Emilie can use the Crystal Stars for her power." He worried.

Kairi put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to relax him. "Sora, even when it seems hopeless, you always made it through." She pointed out. Sora sighed again and wiped a his brow with his sweaty hand. "I know. I just can't help but worry."

"_We're coming up on the next world!" _Donald's comical voice spoke through the speakers of the Gummi ship.

"What's the next world?" Sora asked.

"…_Prideland! We're going to the Pridelands!" _Donald shouted excitedly.

Sora grinned. The Prideland was where his friend Simba lived. He couldn't wait to see him again. Maybe the baby he was talking about had been born. He'd get to see it!

"Prideland? Isn't that one of the worlds you told me about? The one with lions?" Kairi guessed.

"That's right! I can't wait for you to meet Simba." Sora said.

Emilie yawned as she came into the living room as well. "Well, as long as we don't change into animals, I'm fine. I hated being a cat, even if we could leap far." She said.

Sora was about to tell her about the fact that the world was full of lions, but Emilie fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. _She's gonna kill me when we reach Prideland._

With one last sigh, he waited until they arrived at their next destination.

**An: Short, I know. I'm just lazy. :D This world comes next thanks to my voting poll. Thank you for voting everyone!**


	19. Pridelands

"No! I'm a Jaguar _again_?!" Emilie complained as Sora and co. landed in the Pridelands.

It was true. Emilie was once again a black Jaguar. She didn't really look too happy with that.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were their same forms that they were when they came to Pridelands in their previous adventure. With Sora being a lion cub with brown fur, still having his spiky hair and blue eyes. Donald was a bird(reminds me of Zazu), and Goofy was a turtle with a yellow shell and still keeping his hat.

Kairi was also a lion cub. She had a mixture of pink and red fur, still had her long red hair on her head, and the same ocean blue eyes. She instinctively licked her paw, but then drew her tongue back in disgust. "What did I do that for?"

"Because you're part of the cats family, that's the best explanation." Riku explained. Riku was also a lion cub, he had silver fur, still had his long silver hair on his head, and his aquamarine eyes.

"Check me out!" Mollie shouted. She was now a small kitten, with fur whiter than clouds, and amber eyes. "I'm so cute! This reminds me of a kitten I once had." She said nostalgically.

Emilie's jaw threatened to fall off when she saw what Bonnie turned into. "Talk about ironic…"

Bonnie was a huge tiger with white fur and black stripes, she also had powerful fangs that looked like they could break anything, powerful muscles and shoulders, and she still had her brown eyes and long brunette hair. She looked at her giant paw. "Wow. Didn't see that coming." She simply said.

"You've turned into a tiger and you're not even freaking out?!" Emilie exclaimed. "Well, it's mainly because I'm glad I'm not a weak and soft animal like that rabbit I was before. I expected to turn into a kitten like Mollie, but this is a whole lot better." She said.

"Well, before we look for a Crystal Star, why don't we pay Simba a visit?" Sora suggested. Donald and Goofy nodded. "I'm sure Simba would be happy to meet you guys." Goofy smiled.

Mollie started walking, but then tripped over her own paws, similar to Sora when he first came here. "I'm starting to wish I was still human." She complained. Goofy walked near her. "Don't worry, you just need practice. I can show you how." He walked again. Mollie repeated them.

"Hey, I'm getting the hang of it!" She cheered. "A-hyuck! Nothing to it!" Goofy laughed. Sora was really glad that Riku and Kairi already knew how to walk on four legs thanks to the previous world.

"Come on, let's go." Donald started flying toward Pride rock. As Sora and co. kept walking, Sora took the time to notice something different about the Pridelands. Grass was growing near Pride rock, and he actually saw some Deer and Antelope grazing in the grass nearby.

They finally made it to Pride rock, and started walking up the steps. Sora smiled when he saw a familiar tan furred lion with a red mane with his mate, Nala.

"Simba!" Simba's ears twitched at the sudden shout. He turned to see who it was, than broke out into a radiant grin when he saw three familiar shapes. "Sora, Donald, Goofy!" He leaped to where they were standing, and nuzzled Sora. He stopped when he saw the strangers behind him.

"Who are they?" He pointed his paw to them. "Oh, right. This is Kairi, Riku, Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie." The others dipped their heads in respect for the King of the Pridelands. Simba chuckled. "You don't have to do that. Friends of Sora's are friends of mine."

"Oh, hold on, Kiara's coming." Simba stopped talking. "Who's-," "Shhh!" From the King's den, came another lioness. She was practically the spitting image of Nala, with her golden fur, and white fur near her belly. The only difference was her brown eyes.

Kiara nuzzled Nala. "You're going to be great." Nala assured her. Simba smiled. "Everyone, meet my daughter, Kiara." He introduced her. Kiara turned toward Sora and co. Her fur bristled.

"No, it's okay! These are my friends. This is Sora, Donald, and Goofy. They also brought more friends." Simba explained. Kiara's fur flattened. "So you're Sora, Donald, and Goofy? My father told me all about you three when I was a cub! It's nice to meet the friends who helped him defeat Scar." She dipped her head politely.

Sora blushed at the gesture. "All in a days work. We just knew that Simba's the rightful King." He said.

Sora saw a familiar warthog and meerkat standing next to Simba. "Hi Timon! Hi Pumbaa!" He mewed. "Sora, Donald, Goofy! How are you doing buddies?" Timon greeted. Timon turned around to see Riku right in front of him. "Who are you?" The silver lion asked.

Timon yelped and hid behind Sora. "Sora, crush him! Get rid of these invaders!" He shouted.

"But Timon, maybe these guys are friends of Sora's." Pumbaa pointed out. "Where do you keep getting these ideas?" Timon demanded. Suddenly his face lit up. "Wait, maybe these guys are friends of Sora's!" He guessed.

"Hey!"

Kairi giggled. "These guys are hilarious." She whispered to Sora. "I told you you'd like them." He smiled back.

Kiara suddenly turned to Simba with a serious look on her face. "Dad, will you promise me to let me do this by myself?" She asked.

Simba looked unsure at first, as if he didn't want Kiara out of his sight even once. Then he smiled and said "Alright, I promise." Kiara nuzzled him affectionately. Timon and Pumbaa cried comically at seeing the love between father and daughter. Kiara ran into the fields near Pride rock where the Deer and Antelope were grazing.

"What's going on?" Emilie asked. "Kiara's going on her first hunt. It's like a coming of age ceremony." Nala explained. "Cool! I've always wanted to see a lion hunt for prey." Mollie said excitedly.

Simba turned to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "Keep an eye on her." He whispered. Sora frowned.

"Simba, you can't do that. You promised her you'd let her do it on her own!" He protested. "Kiara's not gonna forgive you if she finds out." Donald warned.

"I know. I'm just worried. I got into so much trouble when I was a cub, and I don't want the same thing to happen to Kiara." He explained. "Just please make sure she'll be safe." He begged.

Sora looked ready to protest again, but then Goofy said "Don't worry Simba, we'll make sure she's okay." Simba sighed with relief. "Thank you. I owe you guys one."

Sora reluctantly followed Donald and Goofy into the fields where Kiara was watching them.

Kiara crouched down and wiggled her hindquarters, preparing to leap. Suddenly her tail stroked the grass that was around her. The antelope heard the noise and started running from where they were grazing.

Kiara groaned and followed her soon to be prey.

Sora watched her from a distance. "I still don't see why Simba thinks she'll run into danger. There's nothing dangerous here." He whispered to Donald and Goofy.

"Well, it does seem peaceful…" Donald whispered.

"Besides, who would want to put Kiara in danger?" Sora asked.

**XXX**

Two lions were inside Scar's abandoned hideout. The male looked like Scar himself, while the female had golden fur like Kiara, but was much more scrawny. There names were Nuka and Vitani.

"This place is even creepier since the hyenas left." Nuka complained. Vitani just glared at him and leaped near a steam hole.

"I'm not scared, okay?" His lie didn't seem to work, as he screamed at a burst from the steam hole. "I just don't know why we have to be here, that's all, if Kovu is so _special_!" He spat. "I never even had a chance!" He screamed again when another steam hole burst with flame.

Vitani rolled her eyes at her brother's foolishness. Suddenly, the sticks she was holding burst into flame from the steam hole's explosion. "That's it!" She grabbed one of them. "Come on, Kiara has started her hunt. We have to move quickly."

Nuka grabbed one of the sticks and curiously looked into one of the steam holes. The hole's flames exploded into Nuka's face. When it cleared, Nuka had an insane grin on his face.

"I'M ON FIRE!" He followed Vitani with the burning stick in his mouth, laughing maniacally the whole way.


	20. Fire!

Donald peeked from the inside of the log he was in, using his wings like binoculars. He spotted Kiara. "Found her." He called to Sora and Goofy. Sora's head shot up from the long grass he was in, spitting some grass out of his mouth. "I see her. Just keep your voice down, if Kiara finds out about this, we and Simba will be toast."

Kiara crouched down and started sneaking up on the antelope quietly. This time, she kept an eye on her surroundings, avoiding a rock in front of her front paw. She would've gotten the antelope if she didn't have a problem keeping an eye on her back paws with the rock. The antelope heard the noise and ran away. Kiara groaned and chased them down again.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt some rumbling on the ground and looked in front of them. The antelope were running right toward them! They ducked underneath the antelope, while the antelope jumped over them like they were only logs. When they cleared, they were more than surprised when Kiara was standing right in front of them, looking anything BUT happy.

"Sora, what are you doing here?" She demanded. Sora racked his thoughts for an excuse. Goofy was the first to come up with it. "The Pridelands look different since we came here, so we wanted to…explore." He lied.

Kiara didn't buy it. "My father sent you! After he promised to let me do it on my own, he lied!" She growled.

"But you can't blame him, he just doesn't want you to get hurt." Sora explained.

"I should've known he'd never give me a real chance. I'll do this on my own, _away _from the Pridelands." Kiara leaped over the trio and ran farther away from Pride rock.

"Come back!" Sora wasn't giving up yet. The three ran after Kiara, but she was too fast for them. "Someone's gotta get a beeper for that girl…" Donald muttered.

Kiara decided to hunt closer to an unfamiliar place that was definitely _not _part of the Pridelands.

Nuka and Vitani watched Kiara silently, with the burning sticks still in their mouths.

"Let's light fire!" Nuka shouted as they dragged the burning sticks across the grass, lighting it up with flames.

Nuka didn't pay attention to exactly where he was firing up the grass, because he lit up a circle of fire that surrounded him, but he didn't notice until, "Hey is it hot in here or is it just?...FIRE!" He practically flew out of the circle of flames that had surrounded him.

Vitani grabbed onto him and pulled him away. "Come on!"

Kiara tried again to catch the antelope. But the antelope ran away again. Kiara looked confused. She hadn't made a sound and yet they were running away. Kiara caught a strange and acrid stench in the air. She turned her head to see where it was coming from. In the distance, there was a small orange dot. She looked closer…Her widened in fear when she realized what it was.

_Fire!_

Sora eyes widened. There was smoke where Kiara was! The flames were spreading right through the grass. "Donald! Goofy! Get out of here!" Donald quacked in fear and picked up Goofy with his talons, flying away with him. Sora had to find a way out on his own.

Simba paced the rock of Pride rock, really worried about what could happen to his daughter. Kairi was trying her best to calm him. "Don't worry, Simba, she'll be fine. I mean what could happen on a day like this?" She asked.

Simba's eyes widened when he spotted smoke in the distance. And it was right where Kiara was hunting! "No! Kiara!" He cried as he started running toward it. Kairi gasped. Sora was near there, still watching her. "Sora!"

Kairi and Simba alerted Riku, Mollie, Emilie, and Bonnie. "Come on! We have to get them out of there!"

Sora tried to outrun the flames that were spreading through the grass like bugs. He saw Kairi running to him. "Sora! You're here!" "Kairi!" The two looked ready to hug(nuzzle), but a branch that was burning snapped them out of it.

"We have to find a way out of here!" Sora cried. "Riku and the others are still with Simba, they're trying to look for Kiara. They went that way!" She explained hastily. Sora and Kairi began running side by side through the burning grass. But everywhere they looked, flames were blocking their way of escaping death. Kairi had even started coughing, and she was slowing down. Soon the smoke was too much for her, and she passed out.

"Kairi!" Sora called. He pawed her sides, but she was still unconscious. Sora knew what he had to do. He picked her up in his mouth by the scruff of her neck and started carrying her through the flames.

As he looked around for a way out, he started growing weaker. The fire was burning his fur, and his sight was beginning to go blurry. Just as he was about to ebb into a tempting darkness, he heard a voice.

"Over here!"

Sora pricked his ears to hear where it was coming from. "Over here!" It repeated. Sora looked up and saw that another lion was pushing down a branch. It landed squarely in front of him, and he climbed it to see an unfamiliar lion next to him. And he was holding Kiara!

"We need to swim across the river, it's the only place the fire hasn't touched." The lion said hastily. Sora leaped into the cold water with Kairi still in his mouth. He reached the other side in time with the lion still next to him.

Donald flew over the flames and spotted Sora with Kairi and the strange lion with Kiara. "I should tell Simba and the others!"

Kairi coughed water out of her mouth as she finally regained consciousness. Kiara had the same experience. "Where am I?" Kairi muttered.

"You're all safe, in the Pridelands." The lion explained, with a smile on his face. Now that Sora got a good look at him, he didn't look like he was from the Pride lands. In fact, he looked just like…

"Scar?!" Sora exclaimed, summoning his Keyblade while getting into a battle stance. "What? No, you've got it all wrong!" The lion said. Sora still didn't back down.

"Well then, who do you think you are?" Kiara demanded. "I _think_ I'm the one who just save all your lives!" He exclaimed.

"I had everything under control!" Kiara retorted. "Not from where I'm standing." The lion fired back. "Then move downwind!" Kairi ordered, glaring at him.

Kiara also got in a battle stance in front of him, making the lion look confused. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Kiara's eyes widened. She_ knew _who had said that before. She smiled. "Kovu?" Kovu grinned back.

"Kovu?" Sora and Kairi repeated. "Kiara!" Simba, Riku, Emilie, Mollie, Bonnie, Donald, and Goofy appeared and took a threatening stance in front of the lion known as Kovu. Nala just nuzzled Kiara. "Thank goodness you're alright." She sighed. Kiara moved away from her mother and instead glared at Simba.

"Father, how could you break your promise?" She demanded. "It's a good thing I did, I almost lost you. No more hunts for you, not ever." He said sternly. Emilie looked a little angry. "I never thought he'd be this strict." She whispered to Bonnie and Mollie.

"But I was doing just fine!" Kiara protested. "Even before Kovu-," "Kovu?!" Simba repeated, roaring at Kovu. "Simba…" Nala muttered.

"Hey, you!" A familiar voice called. Sora turned around and recognized the wise, yet strange/crazy baboon, Rafiki. "How dare you save the King's daughter?!" He shouted.

"You saved her?" Riku asked. "Why?" Simba demanded. Kovu took a proud stance before he said, "I humbly ask to join your Pride." He asked.

"NO. You were banished with the other outsiders." Simba refused.

"I have left the outsiders. I'm a rogue." Kovu explained. "Judge me now, for who I am, or might I be blamed for a crime I _didn't _commit." He said. Simba just growled.

"But Simba, you owe him Kiara's life." Goofy pointed out. Donald flew in front of him. "We may be in his debt, and I here in royal rules that all debts must be paid, but you might want to make an exception." He said.

Simba cast Kovu one last suspicious glance before saying, "My father's law will prevail. For now, I reserve my Judgment. We'll see who you really are." Then he walked back to Pride rock, without a word.

Kovu smiled at Kiara, who smiled back. Donald turned his head away, mumbling something about zapping Kovu with thundaga.

Sora lifted Kairi up with his head. "Are you okay?" He asked gently. "I'm fine." Kairi smiled with gratitude.

"What do you think of him?" She asked, pointing to Kovu. "I'm not sure, he did save our lives, but he looks a lot like Scar. Plus he's not from Pride rock. I'm a little suspicious about him." He said.

"Scar's the one who killed Mufasa, right?" Kairi asked, just to make sure she got the facts right. "That's right. That's why I'm worried. Does Kovu have the same ambition?" Sora fretted.

"Well, we'll just keep an eye on him." Riku decided. "For right now, we have to welcome him."

"If you say so." Emilie sighed. Sora and co. trudged back to Pride rock to rest after the terrible fire.


	21. What makes the heart strong

Sora and co. entered the King's den to get some much needed sleep. Though for some reason, Emilie, Bonnie, and Mollie weren't. Sora guessed that they were going to hunt due to their new cat instincts(with the exception of Emilie, who already had them before).

Kovu was entering the King's den as well. Simba obviously didn't approve of this, as he jolted in front of Kovu, blocking his way of coming in. Kovu glared at him and instead decided to sleep against a rock near the King's den.

Kiara had enough goodness in her heart to greet Kovu. "Hey, thanks for saving me today." She thanked, gratitude showing in her voice. Kovu gave a low chuckle. "What kind of hunter are you, _Princess_? You almost got yourself killed out there."

"What?!" Kiara exclaimed. "You wouldn't last three days on your own." Kovu betted, smirking at her like he's saying "I can do so much better than you".

"Oh, and I suppose _you_ could teach me?" Kiara challenged.

Kovu let out another chuckle, before replying, "Yeah." Kiara smiled as she thought of an idea.

"Kiara!" Simba called from his den.

"Coming!" She leaped in front of Kovu and hastily said "Alright, impress me. We start at dawn." She walked back to the King's den, leaving Kovu smirking behind her back.

"I look forward to it." He replied smugly.

Unknown to Kiara, Nuka and his mother, Zira, were spying on them.

"Did you see that?! He let her go!" Nuka exclaimed with disbelief and anger in his tone. "If that were me-!" "Hush!" Zira commanded.

"The fire rescue worked perfectly and Simba fell for it. And I hear that those Keybearers are here and they fell for it too. The closer Kovu gets to the daughter, the closer he gets to Simba and the Keybearer." She explained, maliciously.

"And once he has those two alone…" She growled and slashed at a weak branch, as if Simba and Sora themselves were there. Her plan was working perfectly. Not only would she get revenge on Simba for killing Scar, but she'll be rid of the Keybearers as well. Maleficent would be most pleased…

**XXX**

Emilie sniffed the ground of the savannah. She didn't want to sleep in the King's den because she wanted to stay up a little later to see if she could find a Crystal Star first. She thought that if they kept waiting, Aaron would take over the realms before they can stop him. Besides, it _is _her responsibility to protect them. She thought that maybe she should do it by herself. Right now, saving the worlds from Aaron's wrath was all that mattered to her.

No luck. The only thing she could smell was fresh prey scent; antelope she guessed. Her nose twitched. Someone else was there. Not just one, she caught the smell of two others. The scents were really familiar…She rolled her eyes when she realized who they were.

"Mollie, Bonnie, you can come out now." She called flatly. She heard muffled cursing before Mollie and Bonnie slipped from behind the rock they were hiding.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"We were worried about you when you refused to sleep in the den." Mollie explained.

"Is there any reason you're staying up this late?" Bonnie asked.

Emilie sighed. She couldn't lie to them, they were her best friends. She could always count on them, no matter what she was doing. "Well, I just want to find the Crystal Star and get it over with. All that matters to me is stopping Aaron from destroying the worlds. His Majesty said it was my responsibility, so I thought I should do it by myself." She said guiltily.

Bonnie gave her a scolding look. "Emilie, you can't always count on yourself to do things. Sometimes, you need to count on others to help you; like us, for example. You know we'll always be there to help you." She said.

"Yeah, you weren't thinking of leaving us here, were you?" Mollie asked.

"No! I would never leave you guys. I just don't want the worlds to turn to turmoil because of me. I know that Sora and the others want to get it as much as I do, but what if we'll be too late?" Emilie fretted.

"Well, if we will be too late, I'm sure we can handle it together." Mollie said, showing her common optimism.

"That's right. We'll pull through, no matter what." Bonnie proclaimed. Emilie could only smile. Maybe they were right. If they handled this together, they could conquer this worldly problem in no time.

"Ah, friendship." A familiar voice suddenly said. The three turned to once again see Rafiki the baboon, staring into the sky of blinking stars.

"Friendship and love are the most powerful things in the universe." He said. Mollie looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

Rafiki turned to face them. "Those two have a point," He seemed to mostly be talking to Emilie. "Friendship is what will pull you through your hard journey, because that, and of course love, is what makes the heart strong." He explained, showing wisdom instead of his average craziness.

"So, you know where the Crystal Star is?" Bonnie asked.

"That is correct."

Mollie looked eager. "Great! Do you mind using that stick of yours to draw us a map to it?" Rafiki did use the stick, but not for what Mollie wanted. To her annoyance, he hit her directly on the head. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?!" She demanded, rubbing the place he hit.

"I'm sorry, I cannot tell you. That would ruin your teamwork. To find the Crystal Star, you three, the others of course, must work together in harmony. As I said before, friendship and love make the heart strong, so doing it together is a great way of showing friendship and love. The same goes for other worlds you travel to when searching for the stars." Rafiki explained.

Emilie looked determined. "Alright, then we promise we'll always do that. As long as we stick together we'll get through anything, just like Bonnie said…Right?" She turned to where Rafiki was standing, only to see that he was gone again.

"Who was that strange monkey?" She muttered to herself.

"Technically, he's a baboon." Bonnie corrected.

"Whatever. We'll continue to search for the Crystal Star in the morning. Let's go to the King's den, I'm beat." Mollie decided, already walking back.

As the three settled down in the den, Emilie looked out into the savannah one last time. "Friendship and love make the heart strong…" She muttered before falling asleep. Mollie turned around a few times to get comfortable before also falling asleep, purring like a house cat. Bonnie slept in a corner, where it was warmest.

Kairi snuggled closer to Sora, earning a smile from the latter. Sora even put his paw over her back to keep her warm. The two fell asleep, and not even the cold wind sighing through the den could break their warmth.

Rafiki watched Sora and Kairi sleep, smiling to himself. "You are lucky to have her Sora. Always keep her close to your heart, and you will make it through anything." He turned to the rest of the group. "Good luck on your Journey."

Than he disappeared inside his tree, without a word.

**An: I thought I could do better with this chapter, but you guys can decide what you think of it. Review please.**


	22. Getting to know him

Kovu sat on the grassy grounds of the savannah as he waited for Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Kiara to attack. He felt the earth shake beneath his paws. He could tell that Kiara was trying to sneak up on him. "3, 2, 1…"

"Gotcha!"

Kiara tried to leap at him, but he ducked and Kiara tumbled against a rock. Sora came up from where he was hiding. "Did you get him?" He asked. Kiara sighed. "No."

Sora sighed. "Guys, come out of your hiding places." Kairi came from behind a rock, Riku appeared from behind a bush, Donald and Goofy leaped up from underneath long grass. "How did you do that?" Riku asked.

"I'm guessing you could hear me?" Kiara guessed, chuckling sheepishly. "Yeah," Kovu said simply. "Only a lot."

"You're still breathing too hard. You need to relax and feel the earth under your paws, so it doesn't shift and make noise." Kovu unsheathed his claws to prove his point. Kiara watched in interest and did the same.

"Is that what you did when you had your blindfold, Riku?" Sora asked him.

"Something like that, though it was more through sensing darkness." He shrugged.

Sora spotted some birds gathering on a small hill. Kovu must have spotted it too, because he crouched down and started whispering, "Watch the Master, and learn."

Kovu leaped onto the hill and prepared to catch a bird, only to stop when he realized that Timon was right in front of him. His paws were on both of the terrified Meerkat's sides, blocking his exit routes.

"Don't eat me, please," Timon begged. "I've never met your tyrant…I mean Scar. Scar! Heck of a guy! A little moody, but-,"

"Timon?" Sora asked, as they climbed up the hill. "What are you doing here?" Kiara demanded.

"Sora! Kiara! Thank goodness. We're here because this place happens to be the best morgues board in the Pridelands! There's bugs everywhere!"

He pointed at the ground to show that indeed there were worms sticking out of the ground, practically begging to be eaten. Timon then frowned when he saw birds plucking the worms out.

"Get out of here, you scavengers!" Timon tried to shoo away a bird, but it pecked him in the nose. Timon clutched his now throbbing nose.

Mollie, Emilie, and Pumbaa were trying unsuccessfully to chase away the birds. Bonnie was sitting on a rock, watching with mild amusement. "Feel my feline wrath, stupid birds!" Mollie exclaimed, mewing pitifully.

"Forget it Mollie, it's not working." Bonnie tried to make her stop.

"Why aren't they scared of me?"

"Haven't you figured it out? You're too adorable to be scary!" Emilie explained, pinching Mollie's now furry cheek.

"I am not! I'm terrifying!" Mollie tried roaring at her, only to have it come out as another squeaky meow. Emilie started laughing.

Pumbaa was gasping for breath underneath the weight of a bunch of birds on top of him. "I'm getting tired, I gotta lose some pounds." He gasped.

Timon climbed on top of Pumbaa to shoo away the birds. "Shoo! Shoo!" Pumbaa caught sight of Kovu. "Hey, maybe he could help." He suggested.

Timon chuckled. "Oh, yeah, there's an idea." He said sarcastically. "Let the vicious outsider…" His face lit up as he got an idea. "Hey, I have an idea. What if he helps?" He gestured to Kovu. Pumbaa nodded before he realized that he stole his idea. "What?"

"Do you want to lend a voice?" Timon did a terrible imitation of roaring to show him an example. "Grr…Roar! Work with me!" He said impatiently.

Kovu turned to Kiara with a confused look on his face. He'd obviously hadn't done it before. Kiara laughed. "He means this." After the word "this", she let out an earth shaking roar, scaring some of the birds away. "Lucky…" Mollie grumbled.

Timon whooped. "Come on, do it again!" Kovu did it this time, and an even louder roar occurred. More of the birds flew away. Kiara and Kovu started running after Timon and Pumbaa. With a laugh, Sora followed them as well, with the others in hot pursuit.

"I don't understand, what's the point of this training?" Kovu asked, still running.

"Training? This is just for fun!" Kairi said as they ran through more flocks of birds. "Fun?" Kovu repeated.

"You should get out more often. Fun!" Mollie grabbed onto a bird that could lift her up due to her small, kitten body. She let go and fell on top of Bonnie's back, shouting "Yee-haw!"

"Yee-haw…" Kovu shouted, without much feeling. "Yee-haw!" This time, he really meant it.

"Yee-haw!" Sora also cheered. They were all whooping and cheering into the sky. Even Riku looked like he was having the time of his life. But it immediately stopped when they realized they were about to run into a herd of Rhinos. They quickly stopped running.

"Uh oh…" Kairi muttered.

The rhino snorted angrily and began to charge at them. Sora and co. screamed in fear and started running away from the stampede. They turned a corner and hid behind a rock, so the rhinos zipped right past them.

As soon as the rhinos disappeared, Sora and co. burst out laughing at the crazy escape.

"What a BLAST!" Kovu exclaimed.

Pumbaa looked down sheepishly. "Sorry…" That only made the heroes laugh harder.

They realized how tight it was between the rocky walls and started pushing Pumbaa, who was at the front, to get out. Along the way out, Kairi accidentally kissed Sora on the cheek. Were Sora not a lion cub, he would've blushed profusely. Kovu and Kiara apparently had the same experience, because they were awkwardly apologizing to each other.

Donald did a surprisingly impressive French accent. "Ah, sweet young love…" Emilie pretended to draw a heart around Kovu and Kiara, while Mollie pretended to draw a heart around Sora and Kairi.

"Hey, guys, are you coming, or what?" Timon asked impatiently. Sora and co. shrugged and walked back to Pride rock.

**XXX**

Later that night, Kovu, Kiara, Sora, and Kairi were looking at the starry sky, pointing at a few stars that formed strange shapes.

"Hey, there's one that looks like my Keyblade." Sora pointed to stars that formed to make the shape of his _Kingdom Key_. "You're right!" Kairi said.

"Oh, and there's one that looks like a baby rabbit. You see the fluffy tail?" Kiara pointed to another shape. Kovu laughed. "Yeah…Hey! That one looks like two lions killing each other over a scrap of meat." He laughed, not knowing that Sora, Kairi, and especially Kiara looked a little uncomfortable of what he just mentioned.

"I've never done this before." Kovu stated. "Really?" Kiara asked with a surprised look on her face. "My father and I used to do this all the time. He says that the great Kings of the past are up there." She explained. "What do you think of them, Sora?" She asked the Keyblade Master.

"Well, someone told me that they were the spirits of those I care about, and that no matter where I go, they'll look after me. I don't remember who told me though, because I was three. I only remember someone holding me and showing me the stars." Sora screwed up his face, trying to remember who did it.

"That's kind of like what my father said. He says that the Kings, like his father, are always there to guide him." Kiara explained. Kovu looked a little curious. "Do you think Scar's up there?" He asked.

The other three turned to him at that question. Kovu looked like he wished he hadn't asked that as he got up and turned his back on them.

"He wasn't my father, but he was still…part of me." He explained, sadly. Kiara, Sora, and Kairi came near Kovu. "Simba told me that there was a darkness, worse then the heartless, in him that he couldn't escape." Sora said, looking at his paws guiltily.

"Maybe there's some in me too." Kovu said. To his surprise, Kiara nuzzled him gently. He hesitated at first, but then he did it too. Sora and Kairi smiled. They didn't need to ask them to know what was going on between Kovu and Kiara. For a minute the two got closer, but when they noticed it they immediately backed away.

Simba watched Kiara and Kovu together. He wasn't so sure if he should approve of their obvious love or not. "Father, I am lost." He spoke to the stars. "Kovu is one of them, Scar's heir. How can I accept him?" He asked.

"Simba?"

Nala appeared next to him, looking up at the stars as well. "I was seeking council from the great Kings." Simba explained.

"Did they help?" Nala asked.

Simba sighed. "Silent as stars." He replied flatly. "My father would never-," Nala interrupted him. "You want so much to walk the path expected of you. I thought Sora already told you about that." She said. Simba sighed. "I know. I just still worry about it." Nala smiled. "Perhaps Kovu doesn't want to do that."

Simba's eyes widened. "How do you know about that?" He asked. Nala's eyes gleamed with amusement. "I can see him down there just as easily as you can. Get to know him and see." She suggested gently, before walking back to Pride rock.

Simba looked back Sora, Kairi, Kovu, and Kiara one more time. He decided to take Nala's advice to heart. With one last sigh, he walked back to Pride rock.


	23. ambush

After the stargazing, Sora, Kairi, Kovu, and Kiara crept silently back to the King's den to get some sleep. Kiara turned to Kovu.

"Goodnight." She whispered softly. For a second she looked like she was going to invite him to rest in the King's den, but instead he slept against the same icy cold rock he slept against the other night. With one last longing glance at Kovu, she walked in.

Sora didn't seem to like that. "It isn't fair that he can't come in because he comes from a different side. He's earned my trust." He whispered to Kairi.

"Simba just needs a little time to think." She pointed out. Sora saw Simba approach Kovu. "Speak of the devil…"

Kovu lifted his head curiously when he saw Simba approach him. He half expected him to say that he doesn't belong there, so it came as a great shock to him when Simba said, "It's kind of cold tonight, come on in." He invited Kovu warmly.

Kovu smiled with gratitude at Simba. He really trusted him enough to sleep in there with the Pride. What an honor!

Unknown to the two, Kovu's sister, Vitani, was watching him. "Get him!" She whispered excitedly. Now that Simba was alone, Kovu would have the chance to attack. Her face changed from excitement to disbelief when she saw that Kovu wasn't doing anything.

"What are you waiting for? Kovu, get him!" She whispered, impatiently. She growled in annoyance and disbelief when Kovu still didn't do anything. He just calmly entered the den with Simba by his side. She rushed off to tell her mother about it.

**XXX**

Zira roared, angrily. Kovu didn't do a thing! He wasn't following the plan at all!

"You're sure?" She demanded Vitani, who had just told her the news.

"Affirmative, I saw it with my own eyes." She confirmed. Zira growled.

"Kovu cannot betray us…" She grumbled.

**XXX**

Kovu warily left the King's den, now standing on top of the peak of Pride Rock. He was really unsure. Kiara had shown him fun, trust, and, most importantly, love. Even Sora and the others liked him now. He decided that he didn't want to betray Simba. If he did that, he would lose his only Kiara. He tried to think of a way to tell her what he was plotting at the beginning.

"Okay, I have to tell her today. How should I start?" He pretended he was talking to Kiara. " 'Kiara, Zira had a plot. I was part of it, but I don't wanna be because… it's because _I love you_.'…" He groaned in frustration. "She'll never believe me," He then looked really determined. "But I gotta try."

He saw Kiara run up to him. "Kiara, I need to talk to you." He began, but was interrupted by Simba.

"Kiara, I don't want you talking with him." He said, a look of disapproval on his face. But then it changed into a smile. "_I _want to talk with him."

Kiara broke out into a radiant grin, while Kovu looked a little nervous. He had to talk to Kiara _now_! Simba turned to Sora.

"Sora, could you accompany us? I could use your help for explaining a few things." He asked. Sora stretched his legs and stood beside him. "Sure, Simba; anytime." He smiled.

Kovu looked a little reluctant at first, but he decided to follow them out. Kairi woke up when she felt that her side, where Sora was sleeping beside her, suddenly felt cold. "Where's Sora?" She asked sleepily.

Emilie yawned and got up. "He's probably out for a hunt. If he is, I could sure use some breakfast. I haven't eaten since we got here." She complained. Kairi giggled lightly.

Bonnie came back into the den with an antelope clamped in her jaws. "Prey." She said simply, placing it in front of Kairi, Emilie, and the still snoozing Mollie, Riku, Donald, and Goofy. "When did you get up?" Emilie asked.

"I always get up at 3:00 A.M. It's when I count the team to make sure none of us are gone. I just decided to do a little hunting because I was bored." She explained. She pushed it farther to the others. "Go ahead, I've already eaten." Emilie took a small nibble at first, before munching on it as fast as she could. When she was hungry, her manners were a crying shame.

Donald woke up. "I'm gonna go fly around the Pridelands to look for the Crystal Star." He said. Goofy started walking after him as he flew away. "Wait for me, Donald!" He called after him.

Emilie shook Mollie awake. Mollie purred softly and jolted her head up after a while (that's what my cat does when I wake her up). "What'd I miss?" She asked groggily.

"Nothing much. We're just waking up." Emilie explained. Kairi shook Riku awake. "Hey Riku, I'm gonna look for Sora. Can you come with me?" She asked.

"Sure." He said, walking on his stiff legs. "Are you guys coming?" He asked behind his back. "No, we're going to hunt some more. The Pride would want us to do that." Emilie said. "Suit yourself." Riku shrugged, before following Kairi to look for Sora. Kiara followed them as well.

**XXX**

After Simba and Sora explained about Scar's evils and wrong doings, Kovu looked incredibly shocked and terrified. It was as if he felt that he was responsible for everything Scar did.

"Scar couldn't let go of his hate." Simba explained. "And in the end, it destroyed him." Sora finished solemnly.

"I've never heard of the story of Scar that way." Kovu murmured, looking incredibly guilty. "He truly was a killer…" He merely whispered.

"Fire is a killer." Sora said, looking around the burnt savannah they were at. "Sometimes what's left behind can grow better than the generation from before," Simba uncovered some ash from the ground, revealing a tiny sprout of a tree. "If given the chance." Sora finished with a smile.

Suddenly from the smoky fog, an evil chuckle echoed through Sora's ears. He narrowed his eyes to see what it was. His eyes widened when he saw huge yet scrawny lions appear from the fog. They were growling at them threateningly, their eyes were glowing like full moons, and their pelt was the color of dark ash.

"Zira…" Simba muttered hatefully. "Who?" Sora asked, confused. Simba turned to him and whispered hastily, "The leader of the outsiders, she was very close to Scar, and has been claiming that the Pridelands rightfully belong to him."

"Simba and the Keybearer; it's so nice to see you two so…_alone._" Zira chuckled evilly. The other outsiders gathered around Sora and Simba, blocking their ways of escape.

"Well done, Kovu. Just like we always planned." Zira congratulated him. Sora and Simba's faces turned from surprise to rage at their realization. "You!" They both exclaimed, looking at Kovu.

"No! I didn't have anything to do with this!" Kovu protested. But Sora and Simba didn't buy it.

"Attack!" Zira ordered the outsiders. One of the lions leaped at Sora and pinned him to the ground. Sora summoned his Keyblade and hit it in the face, getting him off and distracting him for a second. Two of the lions were on Simba, so he was having trouble getting them off. "No!" Kovu threw one of the lions off of Simba, only to have him pushed back against a rock by another. He was out cold in seconds.

Sora saw what Kovu did. "Kovu…He really is on our side!" He realized. He was suddenly bowled over by another lion. Sora roared in determination and hit the lion with his Keyblade in its stomach. While the lion tried to recover from pain, Sora launched onto its back and stuck his hit him on the head. The lion was alive, but unconscious.

Sora turned around to see that Simba fell off a small cliff with some lions still attacking him. "Simba!" He shouted, running to his friend's side. Simba threw the lions off, and began to run away again, with Sora by his side. Some lions tried to grab them, but they threw them off and kept running.

Simba and Sora stopped in their tracks when they saw what was in front of them. There was a hill of branches in front of them. If the branches broke, they could fall underneath them and suffocate to death. They looked a little reluctant, but when they saw the lions still chasing them, they knew they had no choice.

Simba and Sora started climbing up. And every branch they stepped on, as soon as they jumped off it, it collapsed and landed in front of the pursuing lions. Kovu appeared on a rock near where they were climbing. "Simba! Sora!" He called, desperately. "Get them, Kovu! Get them!" Zira ordered. Kovu didn't listen. He instead ran another way to help Sora and Simba.

Nuka looked up excitedly. This was his chance. "I'll do it for you, Mother!" He started climbing up the hill of branches in an attempt to catch Sora and Simba. "I'm doing it for you, and I'm doing it for _me._" He whispered the last part. When he was really close, he unsheathed his claws and stuck them into Sora's flesh. The young Keyblade Master yowled in pain while Nuka was laughing. "This is my moment of Glory!"

Suddenly the branch Nuka was standing on gave way underneath his weight. With a gasp of fear, Nuka tumbled inside the hill of branches. Now that Sora was free, Simba picked him up by the scruff of his neck and climbed up the hill.

Zira anxiously approached the log that fell near Nuka, preventing him from breathing. Nuka coughed and wheezed from the dust of the branches in the air. "Nuka…" Zira whispered.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I tried…" Nuka whispered, weakly. Zira shushed him gently, trying to make sure he lives. With one last shuddering breath, Nuka closed his eyes, and didn't move. Zira's eyes filled with pain at the loss of her beloved son. Vitani came next to her. "Nuka…" She mourned softly.

Simba tried getting back to Pride Rock with Sora still in his mouth. Though his limbs screamed in protest, he still had to escape the outsiders and make sure they won't get him. Kairi, who just spotted them from a tree she was on, gasped at how weak Simba and Sora looked. "Simba! Sora!" Riku, Kiara, Timon, Pumbaa, Donald, and Goofy turned on how scared she sounded, and gasped when they saw the two as well.

"Donald, get help!" Kiara ordered the duck mage. "I'm on it!" Donald flew off.

Kairi and the others ran to Simba nervously. Simba put an unconscious Sora on the ground. "Sora!" Kairi and Riku exclaimed. Kairi nuzzled him in am attempt to wake him up. "Sora?" She whispered nervously. "Don't worry, he's alive. He's just unconscious." Riku assured her.

Kiara, Timon, Pumbaa, and Goofy focused on Simba. "Simba, talk to me, what happened?" Timon demanded.

"Kovu…ambush…" Simba muttered before collapsing on the ground. Kiara looked stunned, shocked, and worst of all, hurt. "No…" She protested softly. Pumbaa lifted Simba onto his back, while Goofy lifted Sora onto his back.

"It's alright guys, we're here for you." Timon assured them, as they took Sora and Simba's unconscious forms back to Pride Rock.

**XXX**

"Scar, watch over my poor Nuka." Zira prayed, softly. Suddenly, she turned to face Kovu with a scowl on her face. "_You_!" She slashed Kovu's eye, he screamed in pain. When he turned around, he had a scar over his eye. Zira gasped. It was just like Scar!

"What have you done?" She demanded, her voice shaking with rage.

"I-I didn't mean to, it wasn't my fault! I… I did _nothing_!" Kovu protested defiantly.

"Exactly! And in doing so you betrayed your Pride!... You betrayed _Scar_!" Zira shouted.

"I want nothing more to do with him!" Kovu retorted.

"You cannot escape it!" She backed Kovu against a wall. "Nuka is dead because of _you_!"

"No…"

"You've killed your own brother!"

"NO!" As soon as he said that, he ran through his former family, abandoning his painful memories.

Vitani looked ready to go after him, but was stopped by Zira. "Let him go! Simba has hurt me for the last time. Now he and the Keybearer have corrupted Kovu! Listen to me, Simba and Sora are injured and weak; now is the time to attack! With some help from the Heartless, we'll take his entire Kingdom by _force_!"

The lions roared in excitement and determination as Zira summoned some Heartless. Zira cackled evilly. She would finally get her revenge for Scar.


	24. Exilation

**An: (tune of Jack Sparrow's "I got a jar of dirt") I got 100 reviews! I got 100 reviews! With only 23 chapters! With only 23 chapters!**

"Daddy, it _can't _be true!" Kiara defended Kovu. After they dragged Simba and Sora back to Pride Rock, Simba explained the whole story to the team. About Kovu leading them into an ambush, and climbing the hill of branches to escape. Sora was still unconscious, so Kairi was looking after him in the King's den.

Emilie's ears pricked. Someone was coming. She turned around and scowled at who she saw. "Kovu…" She hissed through gritted teeth.

Kovu nervously passed through the crowd of scowling animals. Some of them growled threateningly at him, and some of them whispered to one another about how the scar on his face makes him look just like the vicious murderer, Scar.

"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Mollie was going to pounce on him, but Bonnie just rolled her eyes and put a long claw on her tail to prevent her from doing it. "Unless you wanna die, I suggest you stay put." Bonnie "suggested."

Kiara smiled with relief. "Kovu!" She was about to run to him, but a warning growl from Simba changed her mind(that and the fact that he blocked her way). Kovu stared up at Pride Rock where Simba was standing on the tip of it. "Why have you come back?" The King demanded.

"Simba, I had nothing to do with this!" Kovu protested. Simba didn't buy it. "You _don't _belong here." He said sternly. "I ask your forgiveness." Kovu begged, looking desperate and sad.

"Daddy, please listen to him." Kiara begged. "SILENCE!" Simba fired at his daughter with sheer rage. He turned back to Kovu. "When you first came here you asked for judgment, and I pass it now!" Kiara and the others held their breath as they waited for Simba's decision.

"EXILE!" Simba proclaimed.

"NO!" Kiara protested loudly.

All the animals in the crowd cheered loudly in agreement at Simba's decision. "No!" Kiara prepared to run to Kovu's defense, but she was stopped by Emilie and Bonnie. "Kovu…" She muttered feebly.

Kovu looked around him. All the animals were glaring and scowling at him, daring him to make a move. He wished that he could explain that this was a misunderstanding, but he knew that no matter what he said they wouldn't believe him. In the end, he obeyed Simba's decision and ran away from the Pridelands, with the animals pecking, tackling, or throwing things at him to add insult to injury.

As soon as Kovu was out of eye sight, Emilie and Bonnie let Kiara through. "Daddy, please reconsider." She begged. Simba just glared at her. "You won't go anywhere without an escort from now on." He stated sternly. "No, that's not-!"

"He used you to get to me and Sora! Thanks to him, my friend is injured terribly." He growled. "No! He _loves _me, for me!" Kiara defended. Simba growled slightly as he said the next sentence. "As my daughter, you will not leave Pride Rock. You will stay where I can keep an eye on you, away from him!"

Riku glared at him. "I think he's being a little harsh." He whispered to the others. "Well, he's just worried for his daughter." Goofy defended. "Yeah, but this is way too much." Donald retorted.

"You don't know him!" Kiara fired back at Simba, her voice edged with tears. "I know he's following in Scar's paw prints, and I follow in my father's." Simba said, looking towards the heavens where his father departed. "YOU WILL NEVER BE MUFASA!" Kiara shouted. THAT struck a nerve on Simba. His face changed from anger to shock at Kiara's heartbreaking words. He turned to her, only to see her run away into another den in Pride Rock.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt…" Mollie whispered, looking sad and surprised. Sora suddenly appeared out of the den with Kairi by his side. He had what looked like cobweb on a wound of his, and he was limping slightly. Donald and Goofy smiled in relief when they saw their friend.

"Sora!"

Sora chuckled lightly as the two crowded around him and telling him about how worried they were. Emilie, Mollie, Bonnie, Riku, and Simba checked on him too. "What's with the cobweb?" Riku asked.

"Well, Bonnie told me it's the best thing to use to stop the bleeding." Kairi explained. Sora nodded. "And it really helps. Who knew cobweb could be so strong?" He licked his wound gently.

"Where'd you learn that? You never told me you knew about medical stuff." Emilie asked Bonnie curiously. "A friend." Bonnie shrugged as if it was the simplest question in the world.

Simba looked at him anxiously. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked. "I'm fine," Sora assured him. "Just a little weak from the wound." He shrugged. Simba's face went from relieved to anger as he said, "Kovu betrayed us. I'm so sorry he was the cause of your wound."

Sora's eyes widened. An image of Kovu trying to save Simba flashed through his mind. He knew that Simba was wrong. Sora found out he wasn't part of it when he saw Kovu try to save him. "But Simba, he tried to save you." He corrected.

Simba smiled at him. "I know it's hard to believe, but we'll just have to accept that he's a traitor." "No! I really saw him do it! I-," When Sora was about to explain everything, his wound shrieked in protest and got the best of him. Kairi led him into the den where Kiara was at. "I think you need to rest a little more."

"But I know what I saw." Sora protested. Suddenly, the two heard panicked voices in the den. The voices belonged to Timon and Pumbaa. The two looked like they had just gone through a fight. "What are you doing?" Sora asked, his voice showing a hint of amusement.

"Good question. Let me ask you one." Timon stammered. "There's this guy-definitely not a lion- whose daughter um… say…vanished." The last part was whispered so softly it was a surprise Sora and Kairi could hear it. "Kiara's gone?!" Sora asked, shocked.

"What?!" Simba suddenly came through the tunnel. Apparently, he heard the exclamation too, because he looked less than okay.

Donald suddenly flew through the entrance. "Soratheoutsidersaregoingtoattackthey'reheadingthiswaysotheycandestroyusallit'swarsoweshouldrunoutasfastaswecan!"(translation: Sora, the outsiders are going to attack! They're heading this way so they can destroy us all! It's war! So we should run out as fast as we can!) He squawked. Sora, Kairi, and Simba looked a little confused. They stared at each other, before Sora spoke. "Donald, I can't understand a word you're saying."

Donald groaned and turned Sora's head to the outsider's territory. He narrowed his eyes to see the outsiders were creeping through the river to get to the Pridelands, not even bothering to shake the water off their pelts. But their wasn't just the outsiders, Heartless were there as well. These looked a lot like lions and looked just as fierce. They're fur was blue with glowing yellow eyes.

Sora gasped. "Donald, get everyone! We need as much help as we can to defend Pride Rock!" He ordered. Donald saluted before taking off to find help. Sora looked at his wound. "This is going to slow me down." He admitted before saying, "But I'm still going for it." With a determined gleam in his eye, he joined his friends for the battle.


	25. Pride vs Outsiders

Simba and Sora led the pride to the border that led to the outsider's territory. The outsiders, with their Heartless by their sides, outnumbered the Pride, even with Sora and co., by a lot. But that didn't mean they were giving in so easily.

"It's over Simba," Zira, who was leading the outsiders, growled. "I've dreamed of nothing else for years." Timon looked freaked out. "Boy, she really needs a hobby." "You're telling me." Mollie agreed.

"This is your last chance Zira, you need to go back home." Sora commanded. "I am home." Zira smirked, before shouting, "ATTACK!"

With a battle cry, the outsiders and the Heartless began creeping toward the Pride. Simba gave out another battle cry and approached them as well. Seconds later, the walking turned into a speedy run, and the fury of the battle began.

Riku swiftly ducked underneath a lion Heartless' claw, which, if he didn't duck, would have scratched his eye out. He placed his paw in front of the Heartless and muttered two words. _Dark Firaga… _Nothing happened. The Heartless stared at his hand in confusion for a few seconds before roaring and scratching him in the cheek. The scratch Riku felt on his cheek felt just as painful as a jellyfish sting. _Why couldn't I use Dark Firaga? I can use my Keyblade…_ His mind clicked at something. He could summon his Keyblade in his mouth, so maybe the Dark Firaga would come out of…He opened his mouth in front of the Heartless and once again shouted _Dark Firaga…_ To the Heartless' surprise, pure blue fire came directly out of Riku's mouth like a fire breathing dragon. Riku smirked when he saw the Heartless get burned by the fire and disappear. _I could get used to this._

These Heartless were really fast for Kairi. With their agile feline bodies, they moved so fast that she couldn't put a dent on them. One of them bit into her back, causing her to emit a shriek of pain. She wriggled feebly in its grasp of her back, but she knew she couldn't break free from the Heartless' death grip. But then she got an idea. She moved her Keyblade, which was in her mouth, toward the Heartless' chest and said one word. _Blizzaga!_ A huge ball of ice shot the Heartless in the stomach, and it disappeared into a cloud of darkness as soon as it collided with a rock. Kairi stared at the bite mark in her back. "Heal!" In a flash of green light, the bite mark disappeared, and Kairi felt renewed energy soar through her veins. She rolled out of the way just in time to dodge one of the outsider's leaping on her. Kairi rapidly attacked the lion, giving it no chance to fight back.

Donald and Goofy, predictably, worked together to take them out. Donald was aiming magic spells at the Heartless while Goofy spun around in his turtle shell as fast as he could. Suddenly the lion Heartless gathered in a straight line before Donald and Goofy. The duck mage smirked as he got an idea. "Hey Goofy, could you come here in front of me for a second?" He addressed the knight. Goofy got a confused look on his face. "Okay Donald." He got in front of Donald, like he ordered him. "And you might want to tuck yourself in your shell." Donald warned. Goofy did as he was told and tucked himself in til' you could only see his yellow shell. Donald snickered and waved his staff like a golf club before whacking him hard. "FOUR!" He shouted as soon as he whacked Goofy. Goofy spun out of control, rolling over the Heartless that were in the straight line. "Oh boy! A hole in one!" Donald cheered. His victory was short lived when even MORE Heartless appeared before him, growling threateningly. "Aw nuts…"

Bonnie surprisingly didn't use her Keyblade to fight. She was using what all tigers use: teeth and claws. She slashed at one of the outsiders, but only succeeded in getting a clump of fur off him. The outsider roared with determination and prepared to leap on her. But Bonnie kicked it with her hind legs before it could. The outsider was on its back, leaving its belly exposed. Bonnie took her chance and slashed its belly with her unusually sharp claws. Blood poured out of its stomach, and it roared in agonizing pain. It gave in and weakly ran back to its own territory. Bonnie stared at where it was heading to, the only scratch on her was on her shoulder. "Good riddance." She muttered coldly.

Mollie was cornered by three of the outsiders and five Heartless, and she looked, for the first time since she could remember, terrified. "Here, kitty, kitty…" The outsider smiled at her mockingly. Mollie's face went from terrified to rage. "Are you talking to me?" She whispered. The lions and the Heartless looked at her in confusion. "Huh?" "Are you talking to me?" She repeated, getting a little louder. "What are you…" "ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?!" They were surprised to hear that her voice sounded as loud as a full grown lion. "They call me MISS kitty! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" With a fierce and impressive battle cry, she proceeded to beat the living tar out the outsiders and Heartless. The Heartless disappeared while the Outsiders stood there stunned for a few seconds before running back to their territory faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. "That'll teach you to mess with a kitty!" Mollie shouted after their retreating backs.

Emilie was on fire. She hadn't received a single scratch from any of the Heartless or the Outsiders. "THUNDAGA!" Flashes of thunder struck three Heartless that were about to leap on her. Suddenly an Outsider bowled into her and pinned her to the ground. "I'll wipe that smug smile off your face!" It unsheathed its claw and prepared to swipe her face. Emilie tried to use her hind legs to kick it off, but it was using its larger weight to its advantage. Emilie sighed and brought her Keyblade tip to poke the lion in the eye, giving her time to escape. When she did, she slammed the lion into a rock with her Keyblade. The lion was out cold before it touched the ground. Emilie proudly kicked dirt at it before diving back into the battle.

Sora dodged a blow in the ear from a Heartless. Even though the wound he had shrieked in protest, Sora still wouldn't give up. If he was going down, he was going down fighting. Sora swiped his Keyblade through the Heartless, and it disappeared in a cloud of darkness. Just as he turned around, he saw a Heartless leap at him. He lifted his Keyblade up in an attempt to parry. Too late, the Heartless slammed into him as hard as a school bus. While Sora was winded from the blow, the Heartless saw its chance and clawed at his wound, opening it up again. Sora screeched in agonizing pain as the claws made contact with it. He expected himself to pass out from that, but he didn't. It made him stronger. With a determined roar, he leaped at the Heartless and pinned it to the ground, even though the Heartless was bigger than him. He started attacking it like crazy until it disappeared. An Outsider was about to leap on him, but he dodge rolled to the side and the Outsider ended up clawing dirt. "FIRAGA!" A hot ball of fire escaped Sora's Keyblade and made impact with the lion. The lion, out of fear, ran back to its territory. Sora gasped in exhaustion for a few seconds, his wound getting the best of him. "Heal!" In a green flash of light, his wound was sealed up and Sora instantly felt better. He turned to see Kairi smiling at him. "Thank you." He said gratefully, before getting back into battle.

Suddenly, all of the fighting ceased. Not a sound was heard…Except Riku burped a bit of smoke out of his mouth. "Excuse me…"

The reason everyone was quiet was because, right in the middle of the battle, Simba and Zira were circling each other dangerously. They were both scowling at each other. Sora soon realized that the fight between those two would determine who gets the Pridelands.

It's victory or oblivion.

Kairi looked ready to help, but was stopped by Sora. "No, Kairi, this is his fight." He said in a manner eerily similar to when he stopped Donald from helping Simba defeat Scar. Zira and Simba both raised their paws, preparing to fight…Suddenly, two familiar figures got between Zira and Simba. Simba and Sora's eyes widened when they realized who they were.

"Kiara?" Sora and Simba both exclaimed.

"Kovu!" Zira growled. Kovu didn't flinch under his mother's glare.

"Move!" Zira commanded Kovu.

"Stand aside!" Simba commanded Kiara. But the two didn't back down.

"Daddy, this has to stop." Kiara said, sounding incredibly serious.

"You're even weaker than I thought." Zira said mockingly. "Get out of the way!" She repeated sharply.

"_Never _hurt Kiara, or Simba, not while I'm here." Kovu growled, taking a battle stance. Zira growled in both annoyance and disbelief.

"Stay out of this." Simba commanded. But Kiara still didn't leave. "A wise King once told me, 'We are one.' I didn't understand him then, but now I do." Simba looked at her in disbelief. _He _was the one who told her that. What was she talking about though? "But, they-," Kiara interrupted him. "Them? Us? Look at them, they _are _us. What differences do you see?" She questioned them.

Sora got a good look at the Outsiders. Now that he looked at them, they didn't look so different at all. They were just lions, they may have different appearances, but when he looked closer, there were no differences. Same shape, same claws, same breed. Maybe Kiara was right.

"Hey, yeah, you're right! We could be brothers and sisters!" Mollie blurted out. "Shut up, Mollie." Emilie replied impatiently. "Shutting up…"

All of the Pride and the Outsiders began to straighten up from their battle stances as they realized the importance of Kiara's words. They also began to see some sameness in there comparisons of each other. Simba smiled at his daughter's new wisdom and nuzzled her. Zira was the only one who was untouched by her words.

"Vitani, now!" She ordered her daughter. Vitani's next words came as a great shock to her. "No, Mother." She refused as she stood next to Kovu. "Kiara's right, enough." The Outsiders looked at each other in surprise. Zira glared at her. "If you will not fight, then you will die as well." She threatened. The Outsiders didn't like the sound of that. Pretty soon, everyone, except Zira, came to the Pride's side.

"Get back here!" Zira ordered. "Let it go, Zira. It's time to put the past behind us." Emilie said. "Hakuna Matata!" Sora shouted, grinning.

"I'll never let it go!" Zira stubbornly refused. "This is for you, Scar." She whispered before leaping into the air, aiming for Simba. To Simba's surprise, Sora and Kiara blocked the blow he would've received. When they blocked the attack, the three were sent falling over a cliff. "Kiara! Sora!" Simba shouted.

Sora, Kiara, and Zira tumbled even farther down the cliff. Finally, Kiara's claws dug into a rock and Sora grabbed onto her tail with his teeth. Kiara climbed herself onto a ledge with Sora still on her tail. Zira wasn't so lucky. She was still hanging way below the ledge, trying to grip onto it.

"Hold on, you two!" Riku shouted. He looked to his left and saw that at the bottom where the cliff ended, water was spreading across, with sharp logs inside of it, creating rapids. "Simba, the river!" Riku warned Simba, who was jumping across rocks to get to Sora and Kiara.

Zira was losing her grip on the rocks she was holding onto. Underneath her, the rapids were a whole lot worse. Sora and Kiara instantly forgot that Zira was their enemy, and stuck their paws out for her to take. "Give us your paw." Kiara said. Zira stubbornly swiped at their paws instead of taking them. She slipped closer to the river. "Stay out of this!" Zira ordered. "I don't take orders from you!" Sora yelled, still trying to help her.

"We can help you." Kiara said, gently. Zira looked down at the river in fear. She finally put her pride aside and tried to grab Sora and Kiara's paws. She missed by a mile though. Sora and Kiara watched in horror as Zira was sent plunging into the torrent, never to be seen again.

"Kiara, Sora." Simba appeared, holding out his paw for them to take. Sora and Kiara looked back at the torrents guiltily as Kiara grabbed his paw. "We're sorry Simba," Sora apologized.

"We tried."

**XXX**

Kovu nuzzled Kiara as soon as she and Sora climbed back to the top. Kairi ran near Sora. "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, checking his wound. "I'll be fine." He assured her. "Don't you ever do that again!" Kairi scolded, despite smiling.

Simba nervously approached Kovu. "Kovu, I was wrong, you belong here." Simba admitted. Kovu smiled in gratitude. Simba finally accepted Kovu for who he was, not for who he looks like.

Simba turned to Sora and co. "Thank you, once again, for helping us." Simba thanked. "Don't mention it." Sora grinned. "For helping us out, you can have this." Simba leaped into bushes and pulled out a brown Crystal Star. Emilie took it in her mouth. "Thanks, Your Majesty." She respectfully bowed. The others soon followed her gesture.

"Let's go back guys. Our work here is done." Sora nodded. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Rafiki appeared. "Ah! But your work in other worlds isn't finished yet! The great circle of life never ends! Go on, get out of here!" He cheered like the baboon he is.

As a flash of light engulfed them, Mollie asked Sora, "Was he born nuts?" Sora sighed. "I wish I knew, Mollie. I wish I knew…"

**An: I kind of like how the fighting in this chapter turned out. What do you guys think?**


	26. Bad news

"Ah, it's good to walk on two legs again." Mollie stretched out her arms and legs.

"Just don't get used to it." Donald's nasally voice brought her down. "We'll most likely be traveling to other worlds with transformations in no time." He quacked.

Sora put the second Crystal Star in the storage of the Gummi ship next to the one they got from Frigid Grounds. Every single Crystal Star they got led them closer to victory.

"Hey guys, I'm getting a message from Mickey!" Riku called from where he was standing. As soon as everyone heard that, the group rushed to where they could play the message. A hologram in the shape of King Mickey Mouse appeared before their eyes.

"Hey fellas, I've got some important news to tell you." He said. "Good or bad?" Emilie asked. "Bad." Mickey answered grimly. Everyone sighed in exasperation.

"Well, I guess you guys already know that Maleficent is back." Mickey guessed. Sora was the one who answered. "That's right. She's hiring more guys from other worlds to get rid of us so she can take over the universe…AGAIN." He rolled his eyes at the last word.

"Your Majesty, if you don't mind me asking, who's Maleficent?" Bonnie suddenly asked. Mickey sighed. "She's a villain that I've known for years. Riku knows her because she once tricked him into joining the dark side." The three girls turned to Riku on that explanation. Riku suddenly got VERY interested in studying the carpet. "But don't blame him," Mickey defended his friend. "Maleficent is very tricky. Besides doing that to Riku, she has always hired some fellas who have some kind of evil desire. So they help her do her dirty work." He explained.

"Anyway, the news I was going to talk to you about was not just Maleficent coming back, but Aaron has some lackeys with him." He explained, looking very grim. The group was silent for a few minutes, before exclaiming, "WHAT?!"

"You didn't think Aaron could do everything by himself, did you? Every bad guy we've met has help." Mollie let out a weak chuckle. "It's just like the movies Emilie, Bonnie, and I watched when we were younger."

"Their names are Alex, Amanda, Alexis, Andrew, Andy, Angus, Alec, and Annabelle. They've each got their own power. Sort of like the organization." He explained. "They'll be across different worlds because they want to stop you from getting the Crystal Stars. Or even worse, kill you guys." He said. Suddenly, the group could hear an alarm go off in the background. "Uh oh, more Heartless. I gotta go, pals. But if I get more information, I'll be sure to tell you. King Mickey out!" The hologram of the King disappeared in a flash.

Sora slumped onto the couch, looking drained. "Great. Just when things were getting better we run into even more trouble." He sighed. Kairi sat down next to him. "Sora, I know it's hard, but if you could beat the Organization, you can beat these guys too." She tried to cheer him up.

"Don't feel bad, we'll find a way out of this. The worst thing they could do is slow us down." Emilie said, optimistically.

"Yeah! All for one, right?" Donald and Goofy shook Sora. "We'll stay with you." Riku promised, while Mollie and Bonnie nodded.

Sora smiled. "Thanks guys. Sorry for acting like that. I guess I should've remembered how far we've made it." He shot off the couch. "Let's do it!" He declared.

**An: This chapter basically explains new villains coming up. They're all OCs. Btw, this is a shout out to one of my anonymous reviewers. I'm not sure if I should include an Avatar world. It's not a movie, it's a tv series. If I make it a world, what part of the series should it be on? Please answer it in your review.**


	27. The last Airbender

In a flash of light, the group arrived in the next world. Emilie sighed in relief after she looked at herself. "Finally, we're human."

"Wow, this place is beautiful." Riku commented. Sora looked around to see that he was right. The group were now at what seemed like a beach with beach houses, a clear ocean, some parts had rocks sticking out of the pale sand, and the sun was blazing hot. Mollie looked incredibly giddy. "BEACH PARTY!" She declared as she ran to jump into the ocean.

"I should've warned her not to go in." Bonnie stated.

"Why's that?" Kairi asked.

"Ocean water is always cold." 1 second after Bonnie said that, Mollie leaped out of the ocean with a comical scream and plopped onto the sand, her clothes now wet and soggy. "Cold…" Was all she could say.

Suddenly, Goofy noticed something on top of one of the beach houses. "Hey look, somebody's being attacked!" He pointed.

Sora turned to the houses to see that Goofy was right. A boy, who looked to be about twelve, was running away from someone else. When Sora looked closer at the boy, he noticed his physical appearance. He was bald, with a tattoo on his head, that was shaped like an arrow, he was shirtless with swimsuit bottoms, most likely he was swimming in the ocean.

The other guy who was chasing him was a teenager with short black hair, a red shirt with orange thread at the ends, and red pants. But the thing that caught Sora's eye the most was a horrific scar on the teen's eye. It was swollen and red, he obviously got it from a fight. To make things stranger, when the teen pumped his fist at the boy, fire came out of his hand, like Sora's fire magic, only without a Keyblade, and this fire was far bigger and even looked hotter and more dangerous.

"Oh no! That boy's in trouble!" Kairi gasped. "Not if we can help." Sora declared as he began running at incredible speed to catch up with the two. The others followed in hot pursuit.

The teen was preparing to blast more fire at the young boy. He got into a stance, when suddenly, he was rammed down by Sora with his Keyblade. Sora pushed him back so hard that they both fell off of the roof, and onto the ground, with Sora pressing the side of his Keyblade against the teen's neck. "Leave him alone!" Sora said sharply.

"Who are you? This doesn't even concern you!" The teen said. "It does when someone is in trouble!" Sora retorted.

"Hey!" The boy that was in trouble shouted. Surprisingly, the boy landed on the ground softly because he was firing air from his palms. It almost seemed like he was flying down. "Are you crazy?" The boy was talking to the teen, before he noticed Sora on top of him.

"Oh, hello. My name is Aang. The guy you're on top of is Zuko, who I think just went nuts." Aang glared at Zuko. "What do you mean? What were you-," "Aang!" "Sora!" The rest of Sora's group came, but on the opposite side of them, another group was there.

The different group all had bathing suits on since they were swimming too. One of them was a girl with long dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a lavender swimsuit. Another was a boy with dark brown hair like the girl, but his hair was tied up in a small ponytail near the top of his head, blue eyes, and purple swimsuit. Another was a girl with short black hair, an orange (I don't know what it's called) in her hair, a yellow swimsuit, and strange white and foggy eyes. The last was a girl with short brown hair with a small ponytail like the boy, purple eyes, and a purple bathing suit.

"Um…I don't mean to interrupt anything but who are you guys?" Emilie asked curiously.

The boy did the introductions. "My name is Sokka. That's Aang," He pointed to the bald one with the arrow tattoo, "Zuki, my girlfriend," He pointed to the girl with the tiny ponytail, and he sounded proud as he said "My girlfriend", "Katara," He pointed at the girl with long brown hair, "Toph," He pointed to the girl with weird eyes, "And the one who could've killed Aang is Zuko." He pointed to the teen with the scar.

"I'm Sora. This is Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Riku, Emilie, Mollie, and Bonnie." He introduced. "What do you guys look like?" Toph asked. Sora's eyes widened. "You're blind?" He asked in disbelief, putting a hand in front of her face to test it out. Her eyes didn't move.

"You better cut that out if you want to see the next day." Toph threatened. Sora sheepishly his hands behind his back. "Sorry."

"What was going on back there? Why were you attacking this boy- I mean Aang?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with you?!" Katara demanded. "What's wrong with ME?! What's wrong with all of YOU?!" Zuko retorted. "How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only three days away?"

"Sozin's comet?" Sora repeated. "You've never heard of it?" Zuki asked. "No. We're not from this w-," "around here! We're not from around here!" Donald interrupted Mollie before she could reveal that they were from another world.

"Oh. Well, allow us to explain."

Aang and the others started telling Sora and co. all about what was going on in that world. They told them about the four elements: water, earth, fire, and air, and how there were nations of them that lived together in harmony. But everything changed when an evil group called the fire nation entered their land 100 years ago and attacked. Only someone called the Avatar-master of all four elements- could stop him. But when he was needed most, he vanished. 100 years later, Sokka and Katara, who were siblings, discovered the new Avatar. He turned out to be none other than Aang. Zuko once was the Prince of the fire nation, and he was trying to catch Aang to get his honor from his father back. Soon, he realized he was on the wrong side and has joined their group ever since. Now they must defeat the Fire lord, who leads the Fire nation and is Zuko's father, to gain peace in the world. But Sozin's comet makes all firebenders stronger, and it arrived in three days. Ozai, the fire lord, plans on using that power to defeat Aang and take over all the nations.

"Wow. Ozai sounds…terrible." Emilie stated grimly.

"Well, I guess I have to agree with Zuko. If the comet is only three days away, then you guys need to train and get ready instead of doing nothing." Riku agreed.

Aang rubbed the back of his head, as if uncomfortable about something. "About Sozin's comet…I was actually planning on waiting to fight the Fire lord until AFTER it came." Aang explained.

"After?" Zuko repeated.

"I'm not ready. I need more time to master Fire bending." Aang said. "And, frankly, you're Earth bending could use some more work, too." Toph added.

"You're an Earth bender?! You're kidding!" Mollie exclaimed. "You're blind! You can't see who you're even aiming at! How do you expect to teach-OOF!" She was interrupted when Toph used her hands to lift a large piece of earth out of the ground and fired it at Mollie's belly. Mollie was sent flying against the rocky wall. "How's that for a blind girl?" Toph asked smugly.

Sora chuckled nervously before saying, "Back to business. So you all knew that Aang was gonna wait?"

Sokka shrugged. "Honestly, if Aang is gonna fight the Fire lord right now, he's gonna lose." Aang looked a bit offended at Sokka's words. "No offense." Sokka added.

"And yet, he's offended." Bonnie muttered.

"The whole point of fighting the Fire lord before the comet was to win the war. But the Fire nation pretty much already won the war after they took Bah Sing Se. Things can't get any worse." Katara said guiltily.

"You're wrong." Zuko suddenly said. "Things are about to get much worse than you can imagine." Mollie limped back to the group, a little dirty and dazed, to listen to what they were talking about.

_Flashback._

_Zuko, clad in Prince armor, was walking down the hall to room. The halls were as red as blood, and the light came from some torches. It definitely resembled the Fire nation._

_**The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about and wanted for so many years. My father had finally excepted me back.**_

_Zuko entered the room. The room had a wide table with other fire nation members sitting near it. On the table was a map of the nations of this world. The people who were sitting were all clad in armor like Zuko. Across from the table were three thrones. The middle sat a man with long black hair, a golden crown on his head, eerie yellow eyes, and a red robe. This was Fire lord Ozai, Zuko's father. On the left throne was a girl with black hair in a small ponytail, red eyes, red armor, and a sinister smirk tracing her lips. That was his sister, Azula. _

"_Welcome Prince Zuko. We've been waiting for you." Ozai greeted as Zuko took the throne on the right. "General Shino, you're report."_

"_Thank you sir." The man known as Shino stood up. "Bah Sing Se is still under out control, however Earth bender rebellions have prevented us from achieving total victory of the Earth Kingdom." As he reported this, Ozai gained an angry frown on his face. "What is your recommendation?"_

"_Our army is spread too thin. Once the eclipse is over and the invasion defeated, we should transfer more domestic forces into the Earth Kingdom." He recommended. _

_Ozai turned to Zuko thoughtfully. "Prince Zuko, you've been among the Earth Kingdom commoners. Do you think that adding more men would stop these rebellions?" He asked. Zuko lowered his head as he began thinking._

"_The people of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong. They can endure anything as long as they have hope." Zuko explained. "Yes, you're right." Ozai approved. Then he turned to the others with a look of pure malice on his face as he said, "We need to destroy their hope."_

_Zuko looked at him nervously. "Well, that's not exactly what I-," "I think you should take their precious hope and their Kingdom and burn it down to the ground." Azula said in a cocky voice. Ozai smirked._

"_Yes…Yes you're right Azula." He stood up and walked toward the table. "Sozin's comet is almost among us, and on that day it will endow us with the power of a hundred suns. No bender will stand a chance against us." Ozai planned._

"_What are you suggesting sir?" A random fire bender asked. _

"_When the comet last came, my grandfather, Fire lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads, now I will use its power to end the Earth Kingdom, permanently!" As he planned that, Zuko had a look of shock and guilt on his face._

"_From our airship will rain fire over their lands, a fire that will destroy EVERTHING. And out of the ashes, a new world will be born, a world in which ALL the lands are Fire nation, and I am the Supreme Ruler of EVERYTHING!" Ozai said maliciously. Everyone clapped for Ozai's plan, while Zuko still looked shocked and guilty. Was he really doing the right thing?_

_Flashback end._

"I wanted to speak out against my father's horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't." Zuko admitted, looking at the ground in shame. "My whole life I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was."

Kairi closed her eyes in hopelessness. "I can't believe this…"

"I always knew that Fire lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just Pure Evil." Sokka stated grimly. But no one was more worried about this than Aang was.

"What am I gonna do?"

Zuko approached Aang. "I know you're scared, and I know you're not ready to save the world. But if you don't defeat the Fire lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save."


	28. Fighting the Melon lord

"Why didn't you tell me about your Dad's crazy plan sooner?!" Aang demanded as he stormed away from the group.

"I didn't think I'd have too," Zuko explained. "I assumed you were going to fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait."

"This is bad. This is REALLY, REALLY bad." Aang sunk down on his knees, looking frustrated, guilty, and worst of all, scared. Sora tried thinking of ways to comfort him.

"Don't worry Aang, you don't have to do this by yourself." Sora started. "Doing things together is the best way to get the job done."

"A-hyuck! Yeah! Just like Sora, Donald, and I, three months ago! We could defeat our enemies easily!" Goofy said nostalgically. What he said was true. The three would fight the toughest enemies and travel across countless worlds just to search for their dear friends. Even at times when they would fight(mostly Donald and Sora), lose, or get separated, they would always pull through in the end. They made quite a team. And the fact that they were now with Riku, Kairi, and three new people, that, in Sora, Donald, and Goofy's opinion, made things better.

"Alright," Sokka shouted. "Team Avatar is back! We even have some new recruits! Air, water, earth, fire, keys, fan and sword!" At the last two words, he grabbed leaves that looked like a fan and gave it to Suki, while he picked up a long and thin leaf and held it up like a sword.

"Fighting the Fire lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together-I mean, besides you guys, I guess-," Aang gestured to Sora and co. "But I wouldn't want to do it any other way." He smiled.

"Well, let's bring on the training." Mollie said with a huge grin. "Hey Bonnie, are you up for it?" She offered.

Bonnie was petting the strangest animals Sora had ever seen. One of them was a small lemur-like animal with white fur and a brown patch of fur on his face. It had the innocent eyes of a kitten and a long brown tail. But the most bizarre part was that it actually had bat wings on its skinny arms.

The second was a HUGE bison with white fur but brown fur on his face and paws like the lemur, two curved horns like a giant bull, and an arrow tattoo on his head like Aang. It growled with delight as Bonnie scratched his head.

"I don't mean to be rude, but…" Kairi began, before Donald interrupted.

"What the HECK are those things?"

Aang laughed as he ran next to the bison and lemur. "These are my trusted friends. This is Momo," He gestured to the lemur, "And this is Appa." He gestured to the large bison.

Appa actually nuzzled Bonnie as she continued scratching his head. "He's really sweet." Bonnie complimented. Aang grinned. "I think they like you."

"Wow. And I thought turning into different creatures was strange." Emilie said with mild interest.

Goofy whispered to Donald. "Gawrsh, do ya think the reason Aang and the others didn't freak out when they saw us is because they have strange creatures of their own?"

"I guess so." Donald quacked.

"Alright, let's stop sight seeing and begin training already." Riku said impatiently.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Mollie cheered.

**XXX**

Later that evening, Aang and the other's training to defeat the Fire lord began. Everyone was now at a rocky terrain, miles away from the beach. Sharp, pointy rocks struck out of the sandy and dry ground, making it look quite dangerous. Sora could've guessed that it was an abandoned training ground for the fire benders that Zuko described.

Sokka placed a melon on top of a stick that he lodged into the ground. The melon had a scary face carved into it to make it look like it could be an enemy of theirs.

"Gather around, Team Avatar." Sokka said as the group sat in a circle near him. Now that they were out of the ocean, Aang was wearing a red and orange shirt with baggy Capri pants, Katara was wearing a short sleeved light purple shirt and shorts, Toph was wearing yellow and green shirt and shorts, Suki was in short sleeved red clothing like Zuko, and Sokka was wearing the same thing as Katara but with no sleeves. Sokka was voicing out their plan.

"If we're going to defeat the Fire Lord-or in this case, the melon lord-our timing has to be perfect," He picked up a stick and drew a scary face picture, along with a line that led to him. "First, Suki, Emilie, Riku and I will drive away his fire, then Kairi and Mollie will come in with some thunder attacks, then Katara and Zuko shoot out some liquidy hot offense, then Donald and Goofy toss Sora into the air so he can use graviga to nail him to the ground, finally, while the melon lord is distracted, Aang comes in for the killing blow." He planned.

"Well, what about Toph and I?" Bonnie asked.

"You two can be the Fire lord's forces."

"Sweet! We get to chuck flaming rocks at you?" Toph asked.

"Whatever makes the training feel more realistic." Riku shrugged.

"…Sweetness."

**XXX**

"Mwahahahahaha!" Toph did a fake evil laugh as she and Bonnie stood in front of the melon lord, looking like body guards. She nudged Bonnie. "Come on, you're supposed to do an evil laugh."

Bonnie suddenly became interested in her feet. "Okay, um…Mwahahaha…" She said unenthusiastically.

Sora and the others hid behind the sharp pointy rocks, preparing to attack the melon lord. Sora stood between Donald and Goofy, who had their staff and shield close to him to lift him into the air. Emilie, Suki, and Riku had looks of determination on their faces as they hid together. Kairi, Mollie, Katara, and Zuko stood back-to-back. Sokka raised his arm in the air, preparing to signal... "Go for it!" He whispered.

Sokka, Riku, Emilie, and Suki began running to where Toph and Bonnie were guarding the melon lord. A deep rumbling sound suddenly stopped them. Right out of the ground appeared rocks in the shape of men with armor on them. Some of them even looked like Heartless. Sora guessed that if Toph knew about them, there was Heartless in this world too. Sokka swiftly cut the guard in half while Suki kicked it right off the ground. Emilie sliced the guard as well, while Riku fired a Dark Firaga at it. As they continued running, a flaming rock suddenly landed right in front of the four. Riku, Suki, and Emilie jumped over it, but Sokka just shook his arm at Toph and Bonnie.

"Watch it, Toph!"

"I am not Toph, I am Melon lord! And this is my assistant…" She racked her brains for thoughts on a sidekick name for Bonnie. Then it hit her. "Bon Bon(1)!"

Bonnie's vein looked ready to pop. "NEVER call me that." She growled.

"Come on, it's reasonable." Toph pointed out. Bonnie used Firaga on the rocks in front of her so they were alight with flame. Toph then moved them into the air with her earthbending. She intended to blast them right into Mollie and Kairi, who were running toward them to use thunder. Mollie dodge rolled out of the way and connected her Keyblade with Kairi's. The two Keyblades flashed with a bright light and hit Toph's upcoming rock. More of the henchmen made of rocks appeared before them, but they took care of them quickly.

Next Katara and Zuko came in. They dodged oncoming rocks and ice attacks from Bonnie and Toph. Finally, Donald and Goofy lifted Sora high into the air. Sora aimed his Keyblade straight at Bonnie and whispered one word. "Graviga…"

A large purple ball hit Bonnie directly. Though she was unharmed, she found that she couldn't move at all. Sora grinned and, still in mid air, turned to Aang. "Now Aang!"

Aang took his chance and jumped high into the air as he pointed his staff at the melon lord, ready to finish it once and for all…

But then…He looked at it again. He had never killed anyone in his life. It was against everything he had learned. He was supposed to be SAVING people, not ending their lives. Just when he was inches away from slicing the melon, he stopped and looked at the ground, feeling guilty about what he could have done.

"What are you waiting for?" Sora asked. "You have to finish it."

"I can't," Aang refused.

"What's wrong with you?" Sokka demanded as he approached Aang. "If this was the real deal you'd be shocked full of lightning right now."

"I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself." He explained. Sokka sighed in exasperation before taking out his sword and slicing the melon in half. It landed on the ground with a _plop. _But to Aang, it was as sickening as scratching on a chalkboard.

"There, that's how it's done." Sokka said.

Aang stared at the chopped melon that Momo was now eating. Was killing the Fire lord really the only way for him to save this world?

**XXX**

French narrator: _That night…_

The beach house had some delicious meals stored inside. Sora couldn't remember the last time he had had good food. But he was beginning to worry. Aang had hardly even touched his food, and he was looking as pale as a cloud. Something was really bothering him. He would've come to Aang to cheer him up, but Katara appeared first.

"Hey guys, look at what I found in the attic!" Katara unrolled a scroll she was holding to show a picture of an adorable chubby baby with black hair in a pony tail, a diaper, and a huge smile on his face. "It's baby Zuko! Isn't he cute?" Everyone started laughing hysterically, except Zuko, who looked irritated.

"Oh, come on, I'm just joking." Katara said.

"That's not me, that's my father." Everyone's eyes widened. That cute little baby was the monster they were supposed to fight?

"But he looks so sweet and innocent." Kairi objected.

"Well, that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers."

"But he's still a human being." Aang pointed out.

"You're going to DEFEND him?" Emilie asked.

"He's a terrible man who kills to get what he wants!" Riku added.

"No. I agree with you. Fire lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world will probably be better off without him. But there has to be another way."

"Like what?" Sora asked.

"I don't know…Maybe we use glue and stick his arms together so he can't bend anymore!" Aang pointed out.

"Yeah! Then you can show him his baby pictures and all his happy memories to make him good again." Mollie added as everyone else snickered.

"You really think that would work?" Aang asked with an excited grin.

"No!" Zuko shouted. Mollie looked confused. "Actually, I kind of did think it would work…"

"This goes against EVERYTHING I learned from the monks. I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like." Aang said guiltily.

"Sure you can," Sora tried to cheer him up. "You're the Avatar. If you need to do it to keep the universe in balance, I'm sure they'll forgive you." He said optimistically.

To his surprise, Aang bolted around to face him, his eyes burning with rage. "THIS ISN'T A JOKE, SORA! YOU GUYS DON'T UNDERSTAND THE POSITION I'M IN!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Aang, we do understand. It's just-," Katara tried to calm him down, but Aang interrupted.

"Just WHAT Katara?! WHAT?!" He demanded.

"We're trying to help!" She explained, all signs of being calm gone.

"Well if any of you come up with a way for me to defeat the Fire lord without taking his life, I would LOVE to hear it!" Aang stormed away from the group by himself. Katara looked ready to go after him, but Zuko stopped her.

"Let him go. He needs time to sort it out by himself." Sora, however, ignored Zuko and headed to where Aang was at the other side of the beach house.

Aang meditated before the burning candles in front of him. He was torn in between killing a human being and saving the world. If he killed the Fire lord, the world would be saved, but he would feel guilty at the fact that he took someone's life for the rest of his life. If he didn't kill the Fire lord, the world would be in shambles, but he also wouldn't have taken anyone's life. What was he supposed to do?

"Aang?" Sora appeared before Aang, looking a bit worried for him. Aang looked down guiltily. "Sorry about what I said back there." He apologized. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Hey, it's no big deal," Sora shrugged it off. "I didn't think I'd see someone look so unsure about killing an enemy."

Aang sighed uneasily. "I know it's stupid, but I just can't kill anyone, not even a monster like him."

Now it was Sora's turn to look guilty. "Listen, I've actually killed more people than you think."

Aang bolted upright. "What?! You don't look like you could kill anyone!"

Sora looked down at the wooden floor. "I killed them for a good reason. They were enemies of mine who would've destroyed everyone if Donald, Goofy, and I hadn't stopped them. We had to kill them for a good cause. I never felt any guilt in doing so. But…From the way you described it, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty myself."

Aang smiled. At least now he wasn't alone. "I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to stop him?" Sora scratched his spiky hair. "Well, uh…"

"I didn't think so." Aang sighed. Sora settled down on the floor as he prepared to sleep. Momo landed on Sora's side and slept on top of it. Aang just stood in front of the candles and continued meditating. Time was running out. He had to think of something that didn't involve killing the Fire lord. After an hour, Aang finally drifted off to sleep.

Suddenly, Aang's eyes snapped open. But something seemed strange. His eyes were glazed over, like he was in a trance, and he felt almost like he was dreaming_._ In the ocean was a large island that was overflowing with plant life, and it really stuck out. Aang got up and started walking toward it, looking like a zombie.

Sora must have heard Aang get up, because he shot upright and looked around to see that Aang was gone. "Aang?" He called. "Aang, where are-," He spotted Aang walking like a zombie toward the island. "Aang, what's wrong? We have to get back to bed." Sora noticed the glazed look in Aang's eyes and looked straight ahead. He too spotted the island.

"What are you doing? Why are you going there?" Aang ignored him and actually dove into the water. He started swimming toward the island. Sora still looked confused. Aang had never acted like this before. It made him almost think that he was turning into a heartless. But, he reminded himself, there's no sign of darkness around him, so that can't be so. He took a deep before following Aang toward the plant filled island…

**An:**

**(1). My friends call me that all the time.**

**Wow, I haven't updated in a while! School can get in the way sometimes. So, I'm not gonna be updating as often as I did in the summer due to homework and studies. Sorry. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank D-dude for pointing out the spelling correction with "Suki". Lol.**

**May Starclan light your path.**


	29. Dissapearance

Kairi shoved some potions into the sack. It was the crack of dawn, and everybody was packing to face the Fire lord. Everyone had looks of grim determination on their faces. They made the Fire lord sound tougher than Maleficent…Maybe he is. Kairi sure wasn't in a hurry to find out.

"Okay, that's everything." Riku nodded.

"No it's not," Bonnie suddenly said, from where she was sitting. She and Toph, instead of packing, were gazing into the ocean, lost in daydreams. But Bonnie wasn't lost enough to not realize that something was wrong. "Where's Aang?"

Kairi suddenly looked around for a certain spiky brown haired teen. "Sora's not here either," She said worriedly.

Everyone suddenly noticed the two hero's absence. In a frenzied panic, they started searching the cabins for any signs of them. But no matter where they looked, Sora and Aang weren't inside them.

Sokka walked outside of the cabin just to see if Aang just fell asleep where he was meditating. Since Sora followed him there, it was likely that he was with Aang as well. He turned and to his surprise, saw Aang's staff that he would use to fly.

"He left his staff. That's so strange." Sokka picked up the staff as the others came to where he was. "Aang and Sora aren't in the house," Emilie reported. "Let's check the beach."

Kairi stared at the sand below her feet. In front of her were large foot prints, with smaller footprints a little farther away. She could tell, without a doubt, that the large footprints were left by Sora's oversized black and yellow shoes. The footprints he left on Destiny Islands when they played together looked exactly the same as these ones. His footprints went in a straight path that led up to…the ocean?

"Maybe they…decided to go for a swim?" Mollie guessed.

"And never came back?" Goofy pointed out.

"Did the Heartless take them?" Suki asked.

"I don't think so," Riku examined the footprints as he kneeled on the sand. "There's no sign of a struggle, or fight."

"Hmm…Aang disappears before a mysterious battle? He's definitely on a spirit world journey." Sokka decided.

"Spirit world journey?" Donald repeated.

"It's when Aang's spirit leaves his body and visits the past Avatars in an unseen place called the spirit world." Katara explained hastily.

"But if he was, wouldn't we still see his body?" Zuko asked.

"And that still doesn't explain why Sora's gone." Kairi pointed out.

Sokka's face fell. "Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Let's just split up and look for him." Suki planned.

"Emilie and Bonnie, you two go together. Zuko and Toph go together. Same with Donald and Goofy. I'll go with Suki. Sokka, you ride Appa to search the island," Katara planned. "And Riku, you go with Mollie."

Riku groaned. Why did HE have to search for his friend with the hyperactive kid who always acts like she ate too much candy? He'd rather go with Maleficent.

Mollie grinned. "Alright! Let's go!"

**XXX**

Mollie and Riku continued through the shops on Ember Island as they looked for Sora and Aang. The market place they were at was decorated with Japanese lanterns and flowers, with lots of delicious smelling food. It reminded Riku a lot of the Destiny Islands market place, where he, Kairi, and Sora would go there to get candy on their days off of school.

"Hey! Hey! Got rare merchandise here! How about you two smart looking kids take a look?" Some random merchant shouted. Riku stared at him. "We're really not interested."

"We have to look for some people." Mollie added.

The merchant wasn't giving up. "Oh yeah? Are you sure you're not interested in this?" On the last word, he pulled out an unexpected item. It was a map, golden colored and slightly torn at the corners, with various markings on it. It was a treasure map.

Riku scoffed. "A map?"

Mollie, however, looked interested. "A map?" She pushed passed Riku.

"Yes. A map full of wonders and mysteries." The merchant nodded.

"Well, let's have a look at it." Mollie traced her finger over the map hastily while whispering something inaudible, before taking it out of the merchant's hands to get a better look. Riku rolled his eyes and turned to get back to work.

"Riku!"

Mollie tugged on Riku's shirt and ended pushing his face into the map, leaving a perfect dent of Riku's face in it. "One moment, please." Riku told the peddler as he straightened the map and got down to Mollie's level.

"Look," Mollie pointed at the final place in the map. "El Dorado, the City of Gold! This could be our fate!" She said excitedly. Riku didn't seem convinced. "If I had believed in fate when I was fifteen, I wouldn't have given into the darkness!" He held out his hand and summoned a dark Firaga to prove his point.

"Come on, please?" Mollie begged. Not wanting to get into an argument, Riku gave in. "Okay, we'll take it." He told the Merchant. Grumbling something inaudible, he took out 500 munny and gave it to him. The merchant pocketed it eagerly and gave them the map. "Good day!" Mollie put the map in her pocket as she and Riku started searching again.

**XXX**

Everyone returned from their search. Judging by their disappointed and exhausted looks, Riku could tell they had just as much luck at finding Aang and Sora as he and Mollie did. How would they find the two now if they're no where on the island?

"It's like they just…disappeared." Emilie muttered.

"We have a real problem on our hands," Zuko stated grimly. "Aang and Sora are nowhere to be found, and the comet is only two days away."

"What should we do, Zuko?" Katara asked as everyone turned to him. Zuko gave them confused looks. "Why are you all asking me?"

"Well, you're the best at tracking Aang," Katara explained. "If anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar, it's you." Toph agreed. "And if we find him, we find Sora too." Kairi pointed out.

Zuko thought about what they said. It was true. Ever since he found that the Avatar was back, he would go through everything just to track him down and capture him. No matter how far Aang got, he always managed to catch up with him. He even wondered how Aang got a wink of sleep knowing that the Prince of the Fire nation was on his tail. He began thinking of an idea to find him.

"Zuko, why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there." Sokka asked.

"Just trust me." Zuko replied simply.

**An: I would've made this chapter longer, but it's late at night. Sorry to those who sent messages to me and I haven't responded. I just didn't feel like it…I wonder why I felt like updating, then? XD Spot any foreshadowing in this chapter?**


	30. Author's note

**I wouldn't be surprised if the following author's note would disappoint some readers…**

**Due to the fact that I had planned most of the world's out, I wasn't expecting someone to request for me to put in an extra world. I'm really sorry, but I will have to skip through the Avatar world. My sisters and I agreed that it's longer than just a movie and I should just stick with my original plan. Guess I should've rejected the world in the first place…I'm sorry if I disappointed any readers. I'm not surprised if I've lost a few. Anyway, I will be skipping this world and going on with my story. **

**So sorry for that. I really didn't think this would happen. Please forgive me…**


	31. Stranded

**An: Hey. Once again, I'm really sorry. I just didn't exactly want to do it. I hope you can forgive me. Here's the next chapter. And they pretty much did go to that world, but I just skipped it. I'm sorry.**

Emilie placed the pale blue Crystal star in the Gummi ship storage. "That world seem to speed by!" She exclaimed.

"We're lucky we didn't run into any of Aaron's henchmen that Mickey mentioned." Riku added. Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"Well, keep you're eyes peeled," Kairi warned. "We never know where they could appear."

"Hey," Goofy said. "I'm picking up some Crystal Star readings on the screen." Everyone spread beside him to see where it was. "Huh? The next one's in Radiant Garden!" Sora exclaimed.

"Well, looks like we're heading back." Donald quacked as Sora turned the Gummi ship in that direction.

**XXX**

Sora walked through the market place of Radiant Garden as he looked for the Crystal Star. The group decided earlier that it was pretty much best to split up since they were in a bit of a hurry. Of course they all had to keep their guard in case one of Aaron's allies arrived.

Sora passed the stand where Huey, Dewey, and Louie-Donald's nephews-were selling helpful items. He took a look at his own supply stock. _I'm running low on High potions…_

"Hey, kids," He greeted. "Can I have ten High potions?"

"Sure thing, Sora!" Huey quacked in a voice that sounded as nasally yet somewhat higher pitched than Donald's.

"By the way, there's been one thing we've wanted to sell all day. We think you might be interested." Louie said as Sora gave them the munny for the potions.

"I'm sorry, but I'm kind of in a hurry…" Sora said somewhat guiltily as he began to take his leave.

"Oh, come on! Just take a peak!" Dewey begged.

"No, I have to-,"

"Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaassssse?" The triplets begged simultaneously, with puppy dog eyes.

Sora stifled the urge to laugh. They always found a way to get what they want. "Alright, you win. What is it?"

The triplets immediately took out a box with the words "valuable" on it. Dewey took something out of the box and held it high in the air. Sora's eyes widened. The object he was holding was pure white like an angel's wing, and it glowed with a relieving feeling of hope.

"That's a Crystal Star!" He exclaimed. "Where did you find that?!"

"Well, while the three of us were going to put frogs in one of Uncle Donald's hats-," Louie began, but Sora interrupted.

"You were going to what?"

Huey began sweating. "He means, uh…going to CLEAN one of his hats," Huey said hastily. "I tripped over a rock, which turned out to not be a rock at all. It was a diamond in the shape of a star!" Dewey began talking. "We figured it'd sell for a lot." "So we've been at it since last week. But no one is interested in it because they think that we're lying and it's just a 'rock we chiseled and painted into a star'." Louie finished, pouting somewhat.

The three seem to have completely forgotten Sora as they started talking to each other. "Where would they get the idea that we'd lie?"

"Guys?"

"Well, what about the time that Louie lied about the Heartless breaking Leon's new sword?"

"Uh, guys?"

"And the time Dewey lied to Yuffie that Cid ate her last Jelly Donut?"

"Hello?"

"Oh, yeah. Yuffie kicked him right in the-,"

"Hey!" Sora finally snapped. "Can I please get it?" He asked impatiently.

There were a few moments of awkward silence until the nephews smiled mischievously. "Alright, Sora, we'll give it to you…" Huey said in a casual voice.

"Thank you," Sora reached out his hand to take it. "You don't how badly we n-," Sora flinched when Huey suddenly drew his hand back. "What was that for?"

"I didn't say I finished the sentence." Huey smirked. "You can have it…if you can pay for it."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. How much do you want?" He asked.

"It's only a million munny." Dewey shrugged. Sora's jaw gaped.

"A MILLION munny?!" He gasped. "Can't you just give me a discount?"

"That IS the discount." Louie said.

"But, come on! Can't you except..." Sora dug through one of his many pockets to pull out all the munny he had. "…8,000?"

"Sorry. No can do." Huey said nonchalantly as he pocketed the Crystal Star.

"So you don't even care that if my friends and I don't get all the Crystal Stars the universe will be taken over by a mad man and/or be DESTROYED?!" Sora demanded, shocked.

"Hey, if we sell this thing, we'll get a lifetime supply of Sea Salt ice cream!" Louie retorted.

"ICE CREAM ISN'T-…" Sora looked ready to explode until he thought about what he said. "Well it IS really good…What the heck am I saying?!" Sora got back to the subject. "You're missing the point! We're all in danger!"

"Sorry, but until you get the munny, the Crystal Star stays." Dewey said stubbornly. Sora growled. "Do you even-,"

"This shop is now closed." The three slammed a metal cover that appeared out of virtually nowhere, on the shop window and RIGHT on Sora's fingers. Strangely, Sora didn't scream.

"If I wasn't so angry, this would REALLY hurt…"

**XXX**

"It's one million munny, guys." Sora stated to the group, solemnly.

"Well…Can't we just skip this star? How bad would it be if one were missing?" Kairi suggested.

"No can do, guys," Jiminy Cricket, the royal chronicler of Sora's adventures, appeared out of Sora's hood. "I've been doing a little research with the King myself, and according to it, the Twilight Princess-which we know is Emilie-must have ALL Crystal Stars in order to defeat any kind of threat."

"Great. So now we're between a Star and a hard place." Riku face palmed himself.

"Well…" Goofy said thoughtfully. "Why don't we just get jobs?" He suggested. Everyone stared at him as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears.

"But, Goofy," Emilie pointed out, "If we were to get jobs to earn a million munny, that would take weeks, maybe even MONTHS, to get the Crystal Star."

"But it's quicker than fighting Heartless." Donald proclaimed. "Besides, we're off-schedule already. We spent more time than we should meddling in each world."

"Is this really the quickest way to buy it…?" Mollie asked, sounding incredibly unsure.

"Well, I hear that Leon is now paying people to get rid any Heartless or any other kind of threat in Radiant Garden." Bonnie finally spoke.

Sora looked a little worried. "Has the Heartless population increased so much that the restoration committee is willing to PAY people to fight?"

Bonnie nodded. "Because of Aaron, more Heartless have been appearing, and citizens have reported being attacked by mysterious strangers, each with their own unique way of terrorizing them." Her voice grew lower. "If the threats continue to grow, Radiant Garden itself could be annihilated."

"This is worse than I thought." Sora whispered. "It's all the more reason to get the Crystal Stars and save the universe. We must take the jobs to get one of the valuable objects. Let's go everyone!"

"We're with you, all the way," Kairi said as everyone got up and headed to Merlin's house.

Riku was about to follow them, when he noticed that something seemed to be wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was different… A few seconds later, he figured it out. _Where's Mollie?_

**XXX**

Mollie climbed into the seat of the huge Gummi ship. It was obvious she thought that there was no way just getting a job would be quicker than getting rid of Heartless and collecting the money they left behind to get the Crystal Star. She planned to go to different worlds where tons of Heartless resided. And, if she was lucky, maybe even find a Crystal Star of her own.

"Hey!" Mollie flinched when she heard Riku's voice. She turned nervously to see Riku, giving her a death glare. "Hi Riku, you must be wondering why your innocent and much weaker friend is stealing a Gummi ship-,"

"Get out!" Riku said sharply. "You know we're not supposed to do this!"

"I don't care," Mollie said stubbornly. "I bet that you and I both know why I'm doing this."

"Yes," Riku nodded. "I know what you're doing, and it's ridiculous. Getting a job IS the quickest way!"

"No, it's not!" Mollie shook her head as she started the ignition. "Nothing you say or do will stop me from doing what I know is RIGHT!"

"Oh yes, I will!" Riku pulled on the Gummi ship steer as they were already taking off into the sky. "Let go, you're gonna break it!" Mollie shouted as the two continued yanking violently on the controls while unknowingly flying through the never ending space.

"Come on! You can't-"

_SPLIT!_

Riku and Mollie looked at the steer…their own pieces that had separated from being pulled too hard.

"This COULD be a problem…" Mollie stated nervously.

"You think?"

The Gummi ship began spinning out of control due to no one controlling it, nor a steering wheel to do so. Inside, Mollie was screaming uncontrollably while Riku was trying, with not much success, to reattach the steering wheel. "Come on…" He muttered. He stared at the wires for a few seconds, and, by some stroke of luck, the wires reattached to the steer, so Riku took control again.

"Got it!" He exclaimed victoriously. "Alright, let's head back to-"

He looked straight ahead to see that they were already heading towards a world, with ominous clouds covering it. They were black and gloomy like storm clouds, yet they seemed even more bone chilling; the kind of clouds that looked ready to swallow any kind of unlucky vessel approaching toward it, slowly inhaling it…

Blinded by panic, Mollie pushed Riku out of the way and tried to pull the steer up, attempting to get away from the ominous clouds. "It's too late!" Riku shouted. "We've come too close. The gravity is too strong. We will have to crash land in this world."

Mollie's eyes widened. "Crash land?!" She repeated fearfully.

"We'll be lucky if we survive." Riku whispered, hoping Mollie didn't hear him. His hopes were in vain.

"SURVIVE?!" Mollie repeated, sounding even more terrified than before. "We might die?"

"Be quiet!" Riku snapped. "I'm trying to slow us down enough so that the landing won't be so dangerous." Riku stared across the complex controls of this new Gummi ship that he has never used before. How was he supposed to save himself and Mollie if he didn't even know how? "Duck and hold on to something as tight as you can!" That was all he could decide to do right now.

Mollie, too scared to criticize his order, did as she was told. She and Riku hid at the back of the Gummi ship, where it appeared to be the safest place. Riku saw through the screen that they were already flying through the ominous black clouds. For a few seconds, Riku noticed Mollie reaching out for something, before darkness engulfed his thoughts.

**XXX**

……………_.ku……………………._

…………_.Riku!..............................._

Riku opened his eyes to see Mollie, standing right in front of him, staring at him with a scared look on her face. When she saw him awaken, Mollie sighed with relief. "I thought you were dead."

For a moment, Riku was only trying to remember what the heck was going on…Then it hit him. The Crystal Star, munny, jobs, the Gummi Ship, Crash landing…

_Crash landing!_

"Mollie!" Riku shot up from where he was lying down. "Where are we?! How did we survive?!"

"Oh! Well after you passed out, I managed to slow our Gummi ship down by lowering the engines. It held together pretty well." She said proudly. But then, a frown appeared on her face. "Except for the steering wheel," She looked beneath her. "And this gaping hole," She looked at the control area. "And the starting engines could use some fixing…"

Riku's eyes narrowed with rage. "Do you know…where we are?" His words were spoken through clenched teeth.

Mollie looked outside the door(which had fallen off)of the Gummi ship. "Well…I can't give you a name, but it looks like some kind of beach." She decided.

"YOU MEAN WE'RE STRANDED!" Riku exclaimed.

"You make it sound like it's awful."

"Yes, it's awful!" Riku jumped out of the ship and landed on pure white sand. It felt even hotter and drier than the sand on Destiny Islands. "We are trapped here with no idea where we are, and no way of transportation! Look at this," He looks at the back engines. "Power broken, steering down, GIANT HOLE! This will take weeks to finish! And it's all your fault!" He snapped at Mollie.

"MY fault?" Mollie exclaimed.

"Yes! If you had just stuck with our original plan of getting paid by the Restoration Committee, none of this would've happened!"

Mollie looked ready to say something.

"AND IT WOULD NOT BE QUICKER TO TAKE MONEY FROM HEARTLESS!!!"

Mollie stared at the ground. "I was just trying to help…"

"Then help me: DON'T help me." Riku said. "Right now, all you have to do is find some parts on this island, stay away from the Gummi ship, and leave the fixing to me."

Mollie seemed a bit preoccupied. Riku noticed that she was staring at an oddly shaped rock with interest and amazement.

"Mollie…? Hello? Earth to-"

"Riku!" She turned around with a huge grin on her face. "We did it!"

"What are you-," Riku noticed Mollie holding something familiar in her hands. "The MAP?" It was the map Mollie and the latter had purchased from the land of the four nations! "You STILL have the map?"

Mollie was to busy whispering to herself. "The rock looks just like it does in the picture!"

"You kept the map, and you couldn't have asked for a REFUND!" Riku snapped.

"No, look, Riku! You said so yourself: 'It could be.' And it really is! It IS the map to El Dorado!" She clutched the map and stared at Riku with an expression only she and an ecstatic five year-old could make. Riku stared at her dully. First she crashes a Gummi Ship, now she's fantasizing!

"You bumped your head against the ceiling, didn't you?"

"Oh, COME ON!" Mollie begged.

"I'm not 'coming on!' Donald said it himself: we've wasted enough time already! I wouldn't go in there for a million munny!" Riku walked back to the Gummi ship to continue repairing.

"How about," Riku heard Mollie say slyly. "A HUNDRED million?"

Riku stopped in his tracks. What did she mean by that? "Huh?"

"Well, it's just the fact that the guy mentioned that El Dorado is the city of gold. With even one brick of cold, it could be enough to buy at least a thousand Crystal Stars." She explained. "That way, instead of the normal time of weeks or months, this will take a mere few days."

Riku looked thoughtful. "But…what about repairing the Gummi Ship?"

"Well, if we ask these guys to build us one, they couldn't possibly refuse. After all, we've got a kind of magic that doesn't belong in this world." She added as she leaned against the side of the Gummi ship, which collapsed as soon as she leaned on it.

Riku still was a little unsure. What if this place didn't exist? Than they would waste more time by travel. But if such a gold rich place DID happen to exist…

"Well…I guess we could do this." He decided.

"Great! So we're going?" She held out her hand, expecting him to shake it. Riku stared at it for a bit before grabbing it. "Okay! But first…Scrat!"

In a flash of light, the little acorn obsessed appeared on Mollie's shoulder. Riku stared at it in confusion. "Why?"

"What? I get lonely." Mollie shrugged.

"I'M here you know." Riku pointed out.

"Yes, but Scrat listens to me." Mollie explained. She summoned her personality related Keyblade. "Come on, Riku, we'll follow the trail!"

"What trail?"

Mollie rushed to the leaf covered entrance of the forest and proceeded to cut the leaves off. "The trail…that we blaze!" The so called "entrance" turned out to be a large rock. Mollie grinned sheepishly before pointing to the REAL entrance. "THAT trail that we blaze!"

Riku rolled his eyes as he followed Mollie into the Jungle. He was being led by a hyperactive kid who's closest companion now was a squirrel…


	32. It exists!

After a few hours of traveling, Mollie and Riku were actually doing well. The places in the map marked each spot they traveled through, so they were going the right direction. Though Riku still felt a little skeptical about finding some legendary gold rich place, he even found himself getting into the spirit of adventure.

"Okay…I think we take a left here…Than a right…Or is it the other way around?" Mollie was having trouble focusing on the map through a thick fog they had gotten into.

"Mollie, we're not lost are we?" Riku asked cautiously.

"No, we just past the waterfall that looked like a face." Mollie said, with Scrat (perched upon her shoulder like Ash and his Pikachu) nodding in agreement.

"Well, I really can't see a thing through this fog. What if we don't make it out of here?" Riku asked.

"Trust me," Mollie said confidently, "I know exactly where I'm go-ING!!" Mollie suddenly stepped on a branch, and it broke under her weight, revealing a cliff right before the pair. Riku, alarmed at her outburst, stepped back and slipped on a leaf, and ended up falling with her!

Lucky for them, the cliff wasn't so high, so they survived when they hit ground. The two tumbled across the hard, rock ground for a few seconds before stopping in front of a (boulder?) Mollie hit her head against it, so she blacked out.

Riku just stared at the large (boulder?) they had landed near. The map landed flat on his face. He picked it up and began looking at it with curiosity. The directions that the map was leading them showed a picture of a stone tablet at the end. In the picture were two men on top of horse, with their heads raised proudly and their hands glowing with a mysterious power. Riku looked at the (boulder?) they had landed near, now realizing that it wasn't a boulder, but a tablet! On the huge tablet was the same picture it had on the map where it had been shown at the end.

Riku tried to swallow the disappointment and anger welling up in his heart. That guy ripped them off! There was no El Dorado! Just a stone tablet that someone made. _We've come all this way for nothing!_ Riku stared at Mollie's unconscious form. Scrat was whimpering slightly as he tried to shake her awake. Riku kneeled to wake her.

"Hey, Mollie, wake up." Mollie twitched a little bit. "Wake up!" Riku repeated, a little sharper than before. Mollie woke up with a jolt. "I didn't take his candy! I was framed!" She calmed down when she saw Riku. "Oh, it's you. What is it?"

"We found it." Riku stated.

"We found…? Wait, we did?!" Mollie quickly remembered what the wielder of darkness meant.

"That's right." Riku said though a false smile.

"That's great! Where is it?"

"Here."

"Where?"

"Right here."

"Behind the rock?"

"No," Riku shook his head, still keeping a false smile. "It's right in front of you."

"What? Let me see the map!" Mollie took the map out of Riku's hands, and looked at the picture on the map, than at the tablet. "What…?" She had a disappointed and sad look on her face.

"Apparently," Riku started to release how angry he was. "The guy forgot to mention that HIS version of El Dorado is "Great, big…ROCK!!!!" Riku shouted the last word so loud, it echoed through the foggy land. _…rock…rock…rock… _Scrat perked his ears and tried to see the person who apparently liked repeating what Riku said.

Riku continued his angry sarcasm. "And I'm feeling a little generous so YOU can keep the leftover gold when we buy the Crystal Star!" He suddenly became serious. "Thanks to you, we're way off course. Now let's go to the ship." He ordered.

"B-but Riku," Mollie protested. "We can't just give up. I mean, we've come all this way, so there HAS to be a-,"

"GO…TO…THE…SHIP." Riku hissed. Mollie felt a thorn sharp pang of guilt. She really had been wrong. Now their chances of saving the universe were one in a million. She found herself stifling tears.

"Hey, enough with the face," Riku warned before he started looking around. "I think we can get back quicker through there…"

**XXX**

Not too far away from where Mollie, Riku, and Scrat were, a young girl, who appeared to be Riku's age, was running from something, while clutching something in her hands. She had shoulder length brown hair, a pink star tattoo over her left eye, a hot pink polo with a star insignia on it, a white tank top, blue jeans, and pink flip flops. Though she tripped a couple of times, she got back up and continued to run like her life was at stake. _This is it, Starz, you'll get freedom at last!_

She spotted the historic tablet which the people worshipped. _Perfect! I can hide behind there and they won't suspect a thing!_ She turned behind the tablet, only to run right into Mollie and Riku, who were trying to find a way back. "Ow!" Riku and the girl said at the same time. "Who was-?" Riku stopped mid sentence when he saw the girl. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Uh, Riku?" Mollie asked nervously as she looked behind the tablet. Scrat gave a high pitched squeal of fear when he and Mollie saw some men, wearing what appeared to be leopard pelts and yellow earrings, wielding sharp spears, approach them.

"Riku, we gotta run!" Mollie tried to run for it, but was a few seconds too late as the men appeared before them and blocked their way. At first, they glared at the strange girl, than they looked with child-like curiosity at Mollie and Riku. The girl, for reasons unknown, through her item at Riku, who caught it. This time, the men glared at the boy holding the item.

Not wanting to be involved in this, Riku through it back to her, who through it back to him.

Back to her.

Back to him.

Back to her.

Back to him.

_12 seconds later…_

Riku finally gave up and turned to the men. He spoke as pleasantly as he could. "Listen, guys, we weren't really supposed to be here in the first place. We're just…" Riku searched his thoughts for any idea that would get him out of this.

"We're tourists!" Mollie added. Riku nodded and mouthed a quick _thank you._ "That's right. We were just exploring the place a bit. So if you don't mind, we will just be…"

One of the men pointed a spear dangerously close to Riku's neck. _I wouldn't do that if I were you._ Riku stifled the urge to attack them. The LAST thing he wanted to do was get in a fight. These guys looked tough.

"Riku, I think we can take them." Mollie whispered as she summoned her Keyblade. Riku shook his head. "No, we can't start a fight now. We have to get out of here." When Riku turned back, he noticed that now these guys were staring at Mollie's Keyblade with interest and awe in their eyes. One of them, most likely the leader, turned to Riku and grunted. Riku took that as a sign that he wanted him to do it too. Rolling his eyes, Riku summoned his _Way to Dawn _Keyblade.

The men started whispering amongst themselves. Some cast occasional glances at the strange weapons the two strangers held in their hands. Riku turned to look at the girl again. She was also staring at their Keyblades. But rather than amazed and baffled, she looked thoughtful. It was like she was planning something…

The leader of the group turned to Riku and Mollie and nudged his head in the direction behind the tablet. "It looks like he wants us to go with them." Mollie decided.

"We can't do that!" Riku protested quietly. "We have to go back, NOW!"

"I don't think we have a choice." Mollie said. "They'll attack us if we try to escape."

Riku sighed and followed them, with Mollie and Scrat close behind him.

One of the men tried to take whatever the girl was holding. "Hey! You're not getting this!" She snapped. Just because she failed to escape doesn't mean she should surrender so easily!

Riku looked straight ahead for where they were headed. In front of them was just a waterfall. _Where'd they come from? If I didn't know any better, I'd say they lived behind the waterfall. _Riku's eyes widened when he saw that the leader passed right through the roaring water. "There's a cave behind it!" Mollie sounded more excited than terrified.

In the cave, even more men were there. They all wore the same clothing: leopard pelts and yellow earrings. One of them beckoned the pair into a long wooden, sturdy boat. Riku and Mollie sat next to each other while the girl sat across from them, not appearing very happy.

More tension grew as minutes passed by. Mollie kept wondering with excitement where they could be going and why it's so big that it's hidden behind a waterfall. Riku was just worried that they wouldn't make it out alive. They were supposed to be helping in Radiant Garden right now. _You've really gotten yourself in a mess this time, Riku._ He sighed.

Riku looked over the boat and noticed light in the reflection of the water. _We must be entering their home. _When he looked at the girl, he noticed the item in her hands sparkle from the sudden light. She hastily covered it with a cloth. But Riku was a little confused at what he saw. _Was that…gold?_

Mollie and Riku turned around to see just where they entering. What they saw shocked them beyond their wildest dreams.

"No way…Impossible…!" Riku muttered.

"It is…!" Mollie whispered excitedly.

"It's El Dorado!"


	33. Starzilla

Riku couldn't believe his eyes; it WAS El Dorado! It really did exist! And it was even more beautiful than he had pictured it to be. There were dozens of gold temples-large and small-incredibly large fish swam beneath the boat he was in(Scrat was careful to not put his tail in the water), more than half the place was gold colored, even the butterflies were golden like a sunken treasure. But despite the amazing city, Riku still had a sinking feeling that the people here would do anything BUT let them go.

Mollie, with Scrat still on her shoulder, stayed close to Riku as they got off the boat and walked through the main square, which was right in front of the largest temple. She felt nervous and small underneath all the stares she was receiving. Some of the people were glaring, some looked curious, some even looked scared. Mollie didn't have to ask if Riku felt what she did: that they were going to die here.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you, despite how recent it was, Riku." Mollie said, in a farewell tone.

"In case we don't make it out of here, I'm sorry I yelled at you all those times. I should've been more kind to you." Riku apologized.

"Thanks. And I'm sorry about the 500 munny you lost…" Mollie added.

"You don't need to be sorry. It's not your fault that a robber-,"

"Well, actually," Mollie interrupted. "I took it, because I owed someone munny for candy." She said guiltily. Riku felt his anger return. "Wait a second, you-!"

"BEHOLD!" A man, who was standing in front of the large temple, suddenly shouted. "As the Prophecy has foretold, the time of judgment, is NOW!" He shouted. This man looked a little...different from the others. His earrings were two golden squares, he wore a red vest(or whatever they called it), and a red robe. Next to him was a fatter man, who wore the same earrings but no vest and a blue robe. While the man who spoke looked excited, the second man looked unhappy and somewhat bewildered.

"Citizens!" The first man continued. "Did I not forget that the Key guardians would come to us?" On "Key guardians", the people turned to look at the strangers who have just entered. Mollie also turned to look at who they were looking at. Riku rolled his eyes. "They're talking about US!" He whispered. "Oh…" Mollie replied. But then she said confusedly, "What?"

"My lords, I am Tzekel-khan," The man, now know as Tzekel-khan, greeted. "Your devoted high priest, and interpreter for the Gods."

"Hello." Mollie waved pleasantly. Riku just nodded.

The fat man stood next to Tzekel-khan. "I am Chief Tannabok. What names shall we call you?" He asked.

Mollie did her best to sound heroic and "out of this world". "I am Mollie, the magnificent. And he is Riku, the pessimist." Mollie pointed to Riku unenthusiastically.

"Hey, Miss Magnificent," Riku said sarcastically. "You're stepping on your squirrel." Mollie looked down to see that she really did step on poor little Scrat. "Oh! Uh," Mollie hastily pulled up a crushed Scrat and once again tried to sound heroic. "And they call us Mollie and Riku!"

"Well your arrival has been predicted for generations. How long will you be staying in El Dorado?" Tannabok asked. However, Tzekel-khan was only paying attention to whom he spotted, holding onto one of their golden items.

"Ah-ha!" The priest grabbed the young girl by her wrist and pulled her in front of Riku and Mollie. "I see you've captured this thief. Trying to escape again, are you Starzilla?" He asked the girl, known as Starzilla, slyly. "Get your hands off me!" She struggled desperately. "How would you like to punish this girl?" Tzekel-khan asked the two.

"No, wait, you don't understand!" Starzilla said pleadingly. "I'm no thief. Y-you see the Key guardians sent me a vision to take tribute from the temple in order to guide them here," She lied off the top of her head. "My only wish is to serve the guardians." She made a face at Riku, as if expecting him to play along. Riku eyed Starzilla curiously for a moment, before finally ordering: "Release her."

Tzekel-khan reluctantly dropped his grip on Starzilla's wrist and gave her back the gold she had "borrowed". "I suggest you return this to it's rightful place." He said, as she walked away.

"My lords, why now do you choose to visit us?" Tannabok asked. Tzekel slapped his hand away. "Enough! You do not question deities such as those two!" He scolded.

Mollie decided to have fun with the situation, and play along. "That's right! Do not question us," She said in a mock sinister voice. "Or we shall have to unleash our unique and terrible power, and you do NOT want that!" She threatened.

"Well yes, we do!" Tzekel-khan corrected. Mollie winced and took a step back. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything… Riku glared at her. _Now you've done it!_ "Y-you do?" "Of course we do!" The priest approved. "Unleash your wrath upon this non-believer! Show us the truth of your divinity!"

"Divinity!" Riku repeated awkwardly. "Just a moment," He got close to Mollie so no one could hear what they were saying. Unknown to them, Scrat was distracted chasing one of the golden butterflies. Looks like acorns weren't the ONLY things he liked to eat.

"Mollie, you know that little voice people have that tell them to quit when they're ahead?" Riku asked.

"Like Jiminy?" Mollie guessed.

"Sure," Riku shrugged nonchalantly. "But today, I just learned that…You don't have one!" He growled. "I-I'm sorry! I just got carried away," Mollie apologized.

"Yeah, WAY away!" Riku corrected. While the two were chattering, a volcano near the city was beginning to erupt…

"Why don't we just tell them the truth and beg for forgiveness?" Mollie suggested.

"Are you as nuts as Scrat? There's no way they'd let us out unscathed!"

"Well, we really are Keybearers. Doesn't THAT count as something?" Mollie pointed out.

"Yes, but we're not deities like these Key guardians they're talking about!" Riku explained.

"Well, if we can come up with some kind of escape plan or something we could make it." The volcano grew even more eruptive as the two got deeper into panic.

"Come on, think of something!" Mollie begged. "I'm trying, I'm trying!" Riku replied, frustrated. Coincidently, the more frustrated Riku became, the more dangerous the volcano seemed to get. But although the people noticed it, Mollie and Riku were the only ones who didn't. Riku clutched his head as he tried to think. But to the natives, he was using his rage to make the volcano erupt. Mollie started pounding on his head in an effort to get him to think faster. "Come on, you can do it!" She whispered. Riku was so frustrated that he finally exploded.

"ENOUGH!!!"

As soon as he screeched that, the volcano seemingly sucked in all of its rage, and ceased it's eruption…but not before "coughing" some remaining smoke. The two priests stared in awe at the performance displayed. Mollie and Riku looked around them and noticed something interesting: everyone in the city was bowing…to THEM! They had actually believed that those two opposites were responsible for that incident. Mollie spread out her arms in a proud manner, enjoying the praise and attention. Riku even found himself doing the same thing. _Looks like she rubbed off on me._

"My lords," Tzekel-khan bowed to the two "deities". "Come, let me show you to your temple." He began walking up the stairs. "Alright," Mollie grinned. "Temple."

When Mollie and Riku reached the top of the stairs, Mollie was out of breath and panting like she had just run 4 miles(worst feeling in the world!). To her shock, Riku looked just fine. "How come YOU have to be the stronger one?" She complained. "Experience." Riku said, though he didn't sound as cocky as Mollie expected him to sound.

Tzekel-khan and Tannabok led them into the temple. Inside were two separate beds stuffed with cotton, stone carved pictures of historic events on the walls, various plants, a bowl of acorns, and even a pool. It was like an ancient hotel room. Scrat instantly ran to the acorn bowl and started eating them.

Tzekel-khan and Tannabok faced them. "If there are any issues, than please speak to me." Tzekel-khan said. "And if anything concerns you, speak to me." Tannabok added. The two than exited the temple.

Mollie turned to Riku with a smirk on her face. "Come on, admit it." Riku rolled his eyes. "Just say it," Mollie ordered. "I was right and you were wrong."

"Oh, fine," Even though Mollie was driving him crazy, Riku found himself smiling. "I was wrong. You were right. And thanks to you we are now have more than enough to get the Crystal Star." Riku admitted. Mollie started laughing like a maniac. "Can you believe those guys? They actually think we're they're guardians!"

Scrat stopped munching on his acorns when he heard something. To his shock, he found right behind a plant, spying on them, and hearing EVERY word they were saying, was Starzilla! She raised an eyebrow as she heard Mollie continue.

"We just continue to play along, take as much gold as we need, and get the heck out of here!" Mollie planned.

"You know, Mollie," Riku said, guilt showing in his voice. "I don't really know if we should trick these people. I mean, they believe that-,"

"Don't worry, we'll figure out some kind of excuse to get out of this. For a while, just pretend like I said: Mollie and Riku! Riku and Mollie! Mighty and powerful guardians!" She did a terrific heroic pose.

"Hey."

Mollie gasped at hearing someone right behind her and jumped behind Riku. Starzilla laughed at the easily frightened scaredy cat.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Riku demanded. "Be gone," Mollie tried to sound scary. "You stand before the Key Guardians! Keh, keh," She made a strange sound along with moving her hands in a power fashion. Starzilla didn't even blink. "You should really save that for the high priest, because you're gonna need it."

Mollie still continued her "Keh, keh," sounds. "Mollie, give it up. We're caught." Riku said. So much for staying out of trouble. Now they were dead for sure!

But to Riku's surprise, Starzilla said, "Oh no, don't worry about me guys. _My only Wish is to serve the guardians._ Remember?" She reminded them. "What? How?" Riku demanded. "Well, you guys want the gold, but you don't want to get caught, right? So you're going to need my help." She explained.

"Huh? What makes you think we need your-?" Mollie remembered her "Keh, keh", sounds. "Oh, I see…"

Riku glared at her. If he knew about getting someone's help, there was always something the helper wanted in return. "What's the catch?"

"No catch. There is, however a condition. I want in." Starzilla explained.

"In what?" Mollie asked.

"In your team."

"Why?" Riku demanded.

"So I can get out. Duh." Starzilla shrugged.

"Oh, I see." Mollie nodded. But then she had another confused look on her face. Like a boomerang, the question came back. "Why?"

"Well, I'm not exactly from this world." She said.

Riku's eyes widened. "You're not?"

"That's right," Starzilla nodded. "I was flying on a Gummi ship, and I landed on this world. I was exploring for a bit when I ran into these natives. They thought I would spread the word of their existence, so Tzekel-khan forced me to become a citizen. I've been trying to escape ever since." She explained.

"Wait a second, is your Gummi ship still running?" Mollie asked. "Yes." Starzilla approved.

"That's it! That's our ticket out, Riku! We can somehow get out of this city, get on her Gummi ship, and go back to Radiant Garden! It's foolproof!" Mollie planned giddily.

"And since you're using my ship," Starzilla added. "When you guys go back to…whatever world you came from, I'm going with you." Riku laughed and stepped away from her. "I don't think so."

Riku turned to Mollie. "I don't care if her Gummi ship still works, we're not bringing any more passengers with us."

Starzilla still had her own ways of convincing them. "Fine. After all, I'm sure you know the proper rituals of blessing the tribute: the holiest day on the calendar-oh, and of course you know about _Shibalba_." She lightly pinched Riku's cheek as she giggled. "Good luck. See you at the execution."

Riku touched his cheek that Starzilla pinched. As he watched her leave, he thought he felt some kind of warm feeling inside his heart…The last time he had felt that was whenever he saw Kairi, but he eventually gave up on that because he realized that her heart belonged to his spiky haired friend. Since then, he sealed up his emotion of love so that his heart would never break again. But now, seeing this strange girl in front of him, made that wonderful feeling return…_What am I doing? I can't be serious!_

"Hey, wait!" Riku said quickly. Starzilla turned around with a smirk on her face. She held out her hand. "Deal?"

The naïve Mollie tried to shake her hand. "Deal-,"

"Not yet!" Riku slapped Mollie's hand away. "You're in, but you're not a permanent member yet."

Starzilla smiled. "You probably already know this, but my name's Starzilla. But you can also call me Starz, your new team mate." She said excitedly before leaving.

"Hey, that's team mate in training!" Riku shouted as she left. He covered his mouth. He has never said something as goofy as that before! Mollie had a sly smile on her face. "Looks like Riku's in love, huh Scrat?" Scrat nodded as he batted his eye lashes, pretending to be Starz.

"What? I am NOT in love with her!" Riku denied. Mollie scoffed. "Puh-lease! I saw the way you looked at her. It's way too obvious."

Riku groaned. "I really don't want to talk about this. There is no way I will let myself fall in love again!" Riku said as he got into his bed.

"HA! So you admit you're in love with her!" Mollie shouted as she got into her own bed with Scrat next to her.

"Ugh! Good night!"

_5 seconds later…_

"Riku and Starz, sittin' in a tree, K.I.S.S.-,"

"I SAID GOODNIGHT!"


	34. Temptation

Mollie and Riku were now chilling in a tent which was being carried by El Dorado's strongest men. Mollie was peeking outside the tent, staring at all of the followers who were either bowing to them or carrying plates loaded with gold. Ever since they got here, they've been treated like Royalty. THIS was the life.

"Can you believe it, Riku?" Mollie asked. "We just became richer than King Mickey himself!"

Riku was leaning against the wall of the tent with his eyes closed. He opened one eye drowsily. "Yup." He nodded as he stretched a bit. "We just need to keep this up so we can leave this place and get that Crystal Star." "AND if we have enough left, we could even get a lifetime supply of Sea-Salt ice cream!" Mollie said excitedly. Riku cocked his head. "Why can't you use your own munny?" He asked. "Scrooge's ice cream is like 1,000 munny per bar." She explained. Riku quickly got back on subject.

"There's just one problem: How are we gonna get ALL of this gold back to Radiant Garden?" He asked.

Mollie's face fell. She had yet to think of an escape plan. The Gummi ship out of here thing was taken care of, but how could they get out of the city? "Well…"

**XXX**

"A boat?" Tannabok looked confused. The Key Guardians, Mollie and Riku, even after they had just got here, were already planning on leaving El Dorado! For what reason would they want leave so soon?

"You see," Riku tried to sound pleasant and apologetic. "We really hate to be leaving so soon, but some business has come up, and it's kind of like a family matter." _We just have to get out because if we don't there's a possibility the universe would be destroyed. _Riku silently added.

Tannabok still looked surprised and confused. "We expected you to stay for the next…thousand years!" He said.

Mollie looked nervous. "Well, there's your plan, and than there's an immortal's plan. We just have a little job to do, so we just need a boat and we'll be on our way. Trust me, you won't regret letting us leave." She promised.

Tannabok was thoughtful. Whatever business they had that they were talking about, it did sound quite important. Maybe it really wouldn't hurt if they just let them leave. The only thing he was suspicious about was why they needed to take the gold with them…But he could worry about that later. "To build a boat large and glorious enough…would take about a week." He guessed.

Riku and Mollie looked disappointed. "A week, you say?" Mollie repeated. "Hmm…I wonder how long Tzekel-khan would take." Riku said thoughtfully.

Tannabok flinched. He would never let the Key guardians rely on that awful priest more than him! "But for the guardians…three days." He hastily added.

Mollie and Riku looked a little more agreeable with that. "Well, I DO like it here." Riku nodded. "Yeah," Mollie added. "Three days is just fine."

**XXX**

"No, three days is NOT fine." Riku shook his head as he tossed a pair of golden earring up and down in his hand. "This is way too-," He noticed that Starzilla was looking for the right golden earrings, which were the ones he was holding. "These are the ones," He handed them to her. The teen smiled. "Thank you."

Riku quickly got back on subject. "Why do we have to waste three days? What if we're not there to help when something bad happens?" The wielder of darkness fretted.

Mollie was relaxing on a pile of gold, staring into space with a distant look in her eyes. "Time, time, time," She droned. "That's all you're worried about isn't it? I think you worry too much." She said as she got off the pile and turned to stare at the City.

"NO, I worry EXACTLY the right amount! And time isn't the only thing that bothers me," He forced Mollie in his direction. "We won't be able to keep this act up for much longer. Eventually somebody will find out that we're not ancient deities, just today's Keybearers!" He explained. "All we have to do is _lie low_."

"But Riku, this place is AMAZING," Mollie said dreamily. She stared out the window of the temple and gazed at the breath taking waterfalls, animals, and buildings that she couldn't find even in her own dreams. "I mean, I wonder what's-,"

"NO!" (Insert record scratching sound here) "Don't even MOVE!"

Mollie chuckled. Riku couldn't possibly mean that. "Riku, I think you're-,"

"You're moving!"

"But I just-!"

"Hey! Don't!"

"Come on,"

"Stay! Just…STAND THERE."

Mollie stood in with one leg in the air and her hands above her head as she stared at Riku with a shocked expression on her face. "For three days?!" She lost her balance and fell over when Scrat placed in acorn on her head.

"Yes! For three days! No one is going out there and making an act. They'll all find out who we are. The best we can do here is train in case something…unexpected happens." Riku thought about the henchmen Mickey had warned him about.

"Alright," Mollie sighed. "I won't go."

"Promise?" Riku asked in a suspicious tone.

"Yeah, yeah. Just relax." Mollie replied.

"Good," Riku nodded. He stared at Starzilla with her new earrings. They looked really pretty on her…He snapped out of his trance. "I-I'm just gonna go start training," Riku sounded uncharacteristically embarrassed. Starzilla giggled as he left. While his back was turned, she looked at the daydreaming Mollie.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Starzilla asked.

"Yeah…" Mollie only half heard what she said.

"You should really go," She encouraged Mollie.

"Well, as much as I'd love to," Mollie rubbed the back of her own head with a guilty expression on her face. "I couldn't."

"Go ahead," Starzilla winked at her. "I'll take care of him." A broad smile grew on Mollie's face. "Thank you!" She whispered.

Racking her brain for an excuse, Mollie asked the first question that came to mind. "So, uh, where did Scrat head off to?" "I don't know." Starzilla replied. Mollie took the chance and ran out of the temple right when Riku turned around.

"Where's Mollie?" Riku asked. "I don't know." Starzilla replied, innocently.

"Oh, no! She's out there! She's going to ruin everything!" He walked around the room while panicking and saying all doom related thoughts at what could happen now that Mollie was out. He eventually stopped to sit on the couch while he put his face and his hands and continued panicking.

Starzilla took advantage of the situation and walked behind the couch. "Oh, Mollie was right: you worry too much." She placed her hands on Riku's tense shoulders and actually started rubbing them. Riku found himself relaxing underneath her gentle touch. He even started forgetting about Mollie, and where he was, and why he was here…

"Whoa!" Riku snapped out of his trance and stood up, away from Starzilla. "No! I CAN'T be doing this!" He shouted. Strangely, he seemed to be mostly trying to convince himself more than Starzilla. He faced her. "Listen, Starz, we're in the middle of saving the universe here." He said. "On the one hand: Success! On the other hand: Painful, agonizing, failure! Followed by the complete destruction of everything." He explained.

"I can't afford any tempta- er, DISTRACTIONS." He corrected quickly. "So, I'm sorry, but I have to get back, now…" He found himself gazing at her lustfully. She was REALLY beautiful… Almost unconsciously, he asked, "But, maybe another time? When I'm free?" He suggested.

"Too bad," Starzilla shrugged. "Because I'M free."

"I…" Riku sounded cautious. "I'm not really sure that I should trust you."

Starzilla chose her words wisely. "I'm not really asking you to trust me, am I?"

"…Okay, if you say so…" Riku nervously put his hands on her shoulders and started rubbing them in the same gentle way that she had done to him earlier. It actually felt pretty good. It was weird, because normally Riku was careful about the people he felt could or couldn't be trusted, but around Starzilla, he was a completely different person. He could actually put his pride aside around this girl. Without regret, he continued.

**XXX**

Mollie walked through the huge city, looking around with wonder and excitement. It was even more beautiful up close. The only thing that she thought was odd was that there wasn't anyone around her, despite the fact that she had seen many of the people earlier. It was so deserted, that she could have mistaken the place for a ghost town. Mollie looked straight ahead and saw a guard standing on watch. _Maybe he can explain everything._

"Excuse me?" Mollie called to the guard, who immediately turned to her. "Hey, where is everybody?" She asked.

"They've been cleared from the streets, my lady, so the city can be cleansed, as you ordered." He explained.

"Cleansed?" Mollie repeated quietly. "Yes, my lady," The guard approved. "So the age of the jaguar can begin, as you ordered, ma'am." Mollie took her attention away from the guard when she heard the sound of yelping. She saw that two other guards were mugging a man that was out on the street. "Hey, stop that!" She shouted as she ran to help the poor man. "What do you think you're doing? Stop that!" She pushed the guards aside.

"But, my lady," The guard from before exclaimed. "Anyone who disobeys your orders must be punished, as you ordered!"

Mollie's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "It looks like I'VE been giving a lot of orders, haven't I?" She asked.

"Tzekel-khan has made your orders clear, my lady." He nodded.

_That explains it._ Mollie thought. She should've known that crazy priest would lie to the people. "Well, here's an order: take the day off." Mollie ordered. The guards did as they were told and left.

Mollie's eyes softened when she turned to the man that was mugged. "Are you alright?" She asked gently. The man's response was to shake fearfully. "Here," Mollie held out her hand so she could help him up. The man took it as a different sign and held out his earrings for her. Mollie shook her head. "No, really, I just want to help." The man just ran away as fast as he could while running into some equipment. Mollie studied the items and smiled. Maybe she could make something out of them…

_15 minutes later…_

Mollie strummed the guitar she had made out of the items she found. When she was 12, Emilie taught her how to play the guitar and become an expert. But one year later, her guitar broke and she couldn't play it anymore. Mollie was heartbroken. So it felt good to be strumming some chords again.

Two little girls came along with Scrat on one of their shoulders. Mollie looked up for a second. "Oh, hi, Scrat; THERE you are." She said before she continued strumming. The girls flinched as soon as they saw her. Mollie frowned. She knew that they were just scared of her because everyone thought she was a terrifying, powerful deity. She didn't want them to get that impression, so she started a playing a lovely tune on the guitar.

The two started to calm down when they saw Mollie playing. They even started dancing a bit. Mollie smiled. She always loved to make people happy. It was almost like her goal in life. Then she noticed that more of the citizens were coming after hearing her play her guitar. One of them looked at her instrument with interest, wondering how she could make those by just plucking strings. Seeing his curiosity, Mollie gave it to him so he could play. While everyone was focused on him, she snuck away. Mollie wasn't quite finished exploring the unique city yet.

As Mollie traveled deeper through the city, she began to realize how friendly and amazing the citizens were. They had invited her to do all sorts of activities: like feeding the birds, sitting on a giant turtle to reach the other side of the city, and using dominoes that, when it fell down, looked like their golden plates.

The young girl saw Scrat running for some reason, than turned the streets to see that he was passing back a ball that had been thrown to him. _Wow, Scrat's stronger than he looks. _When the kids Scrat was playing with spotted her, Mollie asked, "Mind if I join you guys?" "Sure thing, lady," The kid holding the ball passed it to her, and Mollie kicked it back. Pretty soon, as they were passing the ball through out the city, more kids were joining in their game. Mollie smiled. She hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

_Too bad it will only last for three days…_

**XXX**

"Hello?"

Starzilla shot up from where she was. "The high priest!" She exclaimed, but was careful to keep her voice down in case Tzekel-khan heard her. Next to her, Riku got up from where he was laying, with his hair slightly ruffled, and he had a dazed grin on his face.

"What's he gonna think if he finds the "guardian" like this with ME?!" She whispered fearfully. Riku, who's mind was a little foggy from when they were(I'd kind of rather not say what they were doing. I'm a little embarrassed), replied with "Um…Lucky guardian?"

"Snap out of it, Riku!" It took Starzilla two slaps to get Riku back to earth. "Sorry. Don't worry, I'll take care of this." He promised.

"Hey," He appeared before the priest. "Tzekel-khan, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Well," Tzekel-khan explained. "I have just seen lady Mollie out and about around the people in the streets."

"Really?" Riku asked with drip of anger in his voice. So much for lying low. He wouldn't be surprised if Mollie hadn't blown their cover by now.

"Well, pardon me for changing the subject, but I would like to talk to you about humans…" Tzekel-khan said.

"What about them?" Riku asked suspiciously.

"They are just so imperfect," The priest spat. "Think about: their hearts have light and dark within them, but no matter how bright the light is, they are always consumed by darkness that is filled with greed, desire, selfishness, until finally," He summoned a large shadow heartless before Riku and Starzilla. "They become mindless heartless, destined to consume other hearts full of darkness. No light is enough to save them."

"That's enough!" Riku snapped. "Not all that you're saying is true. Well, it is true that the heart can easily give into the darkness," Riku thought about the mistake that he made a year ago. "But no matter how deep the darkness there will always be a little bit of light." He said. Tzekel-khan looked surprised at Riku's sudden outburst.

"W-well," He said nervously. "As I was saying, to prevent them from getting too much darkness and turn against you, you must strike them with fear, so they would never think of it." Riku silently groaned when he noticed that Tzekel-khan had ignored his statement completely. "They will not respect you if they do not fear you."

Riku backed away, with Starzilla behind him, nervously. "Of course we'll make them fear us," Riku lied. "By…" He struggled to come up with fear that had to with the citizens' beliefs.

"Sacrifice!" Tzekel-khan shouted. "As it is prophesized, the history of the Age of the Jaguar, will be written in…?"

"Ink?"

"Blood!"

Riku virtually kicked himself. Maybe his head wasn't as clear as he thought it was. He should've known that it would be something as fearful as blood.

"I'm just going to consult with Lady Mollie. After all this is very important, so I'll just go." He said hastily. "Come on, Starz." He took her hand and the couple walked down the stairs of the temple to "consult" with Mollie.

Tzekel-khan sighed in relief. "Finally; we're connecting."


	35. Quitting fanfiction

I'm sorry. Due to personal problems, I can no longer be a member of fanfiction. For more info, see my profile.


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